Afghanistan Reviewing "Legalized Rape" Law

Under pressure from such leaders as Gordon Brown, who asserted that he wouldn’t have British troops fighting for a democracy that “is infringing human rights,” Afghanistan is reconsidering a recent law that legalized marital rape.

President Hamid Karzai has agreed to review the recently passed law, undoubtedly due to international outrage over the lack of protection for Afghani women and their rights. “I phoned the president immediately about this because anybody who looks at Afghanistan will be worried if we are going to see laws brought in that discriminate against women and put women at risk,” said Prime Minister Brown, “I made it absolutely clear to the president that we could not tolerate that situation. You cannot have British troops fighting, and in some cases dying, to save a democracy where that democracy is infringing human rights. [Karzai] responded by saying this law would not be enacted in the way it has been presented.”

Karzai claims that the law, which denies women the right to refuse sex with their husbands (essentially legalizing marital rape) and requires that they ask permission before leaving the house, was “misinterpreted” and, according to Jon Boone of The Guardian, “he promised to send it to the Ministry of Justice for review and amendment if it was found to conflict with the equal rights provisions in Afghanistan’s constitution.”