WELT ONLINE: Rund 200 Frauen haben für Änderungen am afghanischen Ehegesetz für Schiiten demonstriert, das Frauen nur unter bestimmten Bedingungen erlaubt, Geschlechtsverkehr mit dem Ehemann abzulehnen. Sie wurden von 1000 Gegendemonstranten, darunter 300 Frauen, angegriffen. Die meisten sind Anhänger eines schiitischen Geistlichen.
Im Streit um das afghanische Ehegesetz für Schiiten ist es in Kabul zu Zusammenstößen zwischen Befürwortern und Gegnerinnen gekommen. Eine Gruppe von 200 Demonstrantinnen wurde am Mittwoch von mehr als 1000 Unterstützern des geplanten Gesetzes umstellt. Vereinzelt seien Steine auf die Frauen geworfen worden, berichtete ein dpa-Reporter. Die Demonstrantinnen seien als „Abtrünnige und Sklaven der Christen“ beschimpft worden. Kritiker werten das Gesetz als Freibrief für Vergewaltigung in der Ehe. Nach heftigen internationalen Protesten legte Präsident Hamid Karsai das von ihm bereits unterzeichnete Gesetz zunächst auf Eis. >>> dpa/tsch | Mittwoch, 15. April 2009
TIMESONLINE: Women Protesters against 'Marital Rape' Law Spat On and Stoned in Kabul
Women protesting in Kabul against a controversial new law were pelted with stones, jostled and spat on today as they held what is believed to be the first public demonstration calling for equal rights for women in recent Afghan history.
The protest by about 200 women called for amendment of the controversial Shia Family Law, passed last month by the Afghan Parliament, and enforcement of article 22 of the Afghan constitution, which gives equal rights to men and women.
It provoked a furious reaction from local men and a mob quickly surrounded the protesters amid violent scenes close to the Parliament building.
The new law, which applies to the 15 per cent of the population who are Shia Muslim, has drawn widespread international condemnation since it was passed in March. President Obama called it abhorrent after leaked drafts of the law showed it apparently legalised marital rape and child marriage and reintroduced restrictions on women that were notorious under the Taleban period of rule.
The Afghan Government has since announced a review of the legislation, which has yet to come into force. Political opponents of the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, have suggested that the law was passed by as a sop to powerful Shia religious parties ahead of the country's presidential elections in August.
Carrying banners that proclaimed “We want dignity in the law” and “Islam is justice”, the small all-woman march was initially matched by a peaceful counter-demonstration of 300 or so female religious students from the Khatam-ul-Nabieen Shiite University in Kabul. The university is attached to the Khatam Al-Nabi Mosque, a huge building constructed with Iranian backing and overseen by Mohammad Asif Mohseni, a leading Shia cleric who has strongly backed the new law. >>> Tom Coghlan in Kabul | Wednesday, April 15, 2009
