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Afghanistan's President Hamid Kharzai legalizes rape of women

May 16, 2009

Kabul - Ex oilman Hamid Karzai worked for the American oil company Unocal before being installed as Afghanistan's leader by the Bush administration. This week, Karzai signed a new Shia Family Law legalizing rape in Afghanistan. Specifically, the measure “negates the need for sexual consent between married couples, approves child marriage and restricts a woman's right to leave the home." Shinkai Karokhail, a woman MP who campaigned against the legislation, called it “one of the worst bills passed by the parliament this century.”Article 132 requires women to obey their husband’s sexual demands and stipulates that a man can expect to have sex with his wife at least “once every four nights” when travelling, unless she is ill. The law also gives men preferential inheritance rights, easier access to divorce, and priority in court.

A report by the United Nations Development Fund for Women, Unifem, warned: “Article 132 legalises the rape of a wife by her husband”. Critics are charging that Karzai rushed the bill through parliament “in a bid to appease Islamic fundamentalists ahead of elections in August.”