Afghanistan Imprisons Women For ‘Moral Crimes’

By Carolyn Abdenour
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

KABUL, Afghanistan – On Wednesday, 28 March, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released “I Had to Run Away,” a report highlighting the approximately 400 Afghan women and girls who are imprisoned in jails and juvenile detention facilities for “moral crimes.”  The authorities jailed women for escaping domestic abuse and surviving rape.

Zarghona holds her seven-month old son Balal to look out the window from the Kabul Women's Prison in Afghanistan. (Photo Courtesy of the Associated Press)

HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth commented, “It is shocking that 10 years after the overthrow of the Taliban, women and girls are still imprisoned for running away from domestic violence or forced marriage.”

The report notes “some women and girls have been convicted of zina, sex outside of marriage, after being raped or forced into prostitution.”  Judges routinely sentence women to lengthy prison sentences, including 10 years in some cases where a zina conviction could hold a 15 year sentence.  Illiterate women often are convicted on “confessions” they “signed” without the government reading the confession to them and without a lawyer present.

The number of convictions for running away rose after the Afghan Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that women who ran away and did not immediately go to the police or a close relative would be incarcerated.  The Court recommended these women be jailed as a precautionary remedy against promiscuity and prostitution.  However, the Afghan criminal code does not define fleeing her home without permission as a crime.

The report emphasizes that President Hamid Karzai did not meet the standards prescribed by international human rights law.  Although he passed the Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women in 2009 to protect women, President Karzai has struggled ensuring women’s rights to please the conservative religious forces.

For example, the traditional practice baad (where families give their daughters away to settle disputes), forced under-age marriage, and domestic violence remain present in Afghanistan.  President Karzai also supported a “code of conduct” submitted by the Ulema Council, a powerful council of clerics, that permitted certain situations for husbands to beat their wives, forbade women to study or work in mixed company, prohibited women from travelling without male chaperones, and stated a woman is secondary to a man.  However, President Karzai declared pardons should be given to women that left their home to marry a husband of her choosing.

HRW interviewed 58 jailed girls and women for this 120-page report.  The report details Asma W., a 36 year old women imprisoned when she ran away once her husband beat her, tossed boiling water on her, transmitted sexual diseases, and declared he intended to marry his mistress; 15 year old Fawzia sought security from a family that forced her into prostitution after they drugged her; and Farah G. is a 16 year old girl that eloped with her friend’s brother after they fell in love.

For further information, please see

Brisbane Times – Women’s Hefty Price for ‘Crimes’ – 30 Mar 2012

Pakistan Observer – Hundreds Of Women, Girls Jailed For ‘Moral Crimes’ In Afghanistan – 29 Mar 2012

BBC – Hundreds of Afghan Women Jailed For ‘Moral Crime’ – 28 Mar 2012

Irish Independent – 400 Women and Girls Held In Afghanistan For ‘Moral Crimes’ – 28 Mar 2012

Young Homosexual Man’s Death, From Violent Beating, Sparks Outcry for Passage of Anti-Discrimination Laws in Chile

by Emilee Gaebler
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SANTIAGO, Chile – On Tuesday of this week, 24-year-old Daniel Zamudio passed away.  His death is sparking calls for the passage of new national anti-discrimination laws in Chile.  Zamudio, an openly homosexual youth, was violently beaten up by a gang of men in a park, 25 days ago, on March 4.

Citizens have made a memorial to honor Zamudio outside the hospital where he died. (Photo Courtesy of La Razón)

The men carved swastika symbols into Zamudio’s body and stubbed cigarette butts out on him.  News reports state that the attackers beat Zamudio for roughly an hour with bottles and rocks, cut off a portion of his ear, broke his leg and left him with severe head injuries.  Doctors at the Santiago Emergency Assistance Public Hospital worked to keep Zamudio alive but on March 19 he suffered a heart attack and his condition deteriorated.

The four men accused of the attack are members of the neo-Nazi group, Nazis del Centro (Downtown Nazis).  They are all four currently in custody, on attempted murder charges, but prosecutor Ernesto Vasquez is asking that be changed to premeditated murder, which carries a life sentence.  At least one of the men already has a prior record for assaults on homosexual individuals.

Gay rights groups throughout the country are asking that torture charges be included as well.  Jaime Parada, spokesmen for Chile’s Movement for Homosexual Liberation and Integration, spoke out about how this aggressive attack highlights the fear that homosexuals in Chile must live with.

“We are fighting for an anti-discrimination law, for changes in language so people stop treating us like we are ill and make sure that the church does not treat us like sinners and so on,” said Parada.

Seven years ago, an anti-discrimination law was first proposed, but it was never passed due to pressure from Evangelical Christian groups. Chilean government officials are promising to focus on getting that passed.  Chile’s Interior Minister, Rodrigo Hinzpeter, currently acting as President while President Piñera is in Asia, affirmed this.  Hinzpeter spoke outside the hospital, the day Zamudio died, to a hostile crowd who booed him.

“Since this aggression, Daniel’s murder happened, we have had a relative education on how we are going to construct a more harmonious society, with more love, where no one – no one – is discriminated against for any reason, because all Chileans have the same rights.  There is no-one in our society who can feel such murderous arrogance that they can attack and assault a fellow citizen for any reason,” said Hinzpeter.

There has been a general public outcry in the wake of the attack because people feel that the government is not doing enough to protect those who are victims of hate crimes.

 

For more information, please see;

La Razón – Asesinato de Joven Homosexual Conmociona a Sociedad Chilena – 29 March 2012

The Washington Post – In Chile, Beating Death of Gay Man Stirs Change – 29 March 2012

BBC – Chile Prosecutors Seek Murder Charges Over Gay Attack – 28 March 2012

NTN24 News – Murder of Gay Man by Suspected Neo-Nazi Group Shakes Chile – 28 March 2012

EDGE – Gay Man Brutally Attacked in Chilean Capital Remains in Critical Condition – 25 March 2012

Lugar Endorses The Magnitsky Act

Press Release
Originally sent 3/27/12

Today, U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN) made the following statement at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Business Meeting:

“Mr. Chairman, several Committee Members have urged Committee consideration of the Magnitsky Rule of Law Act.  I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Senator Cardin for his hard work on the Magnitsky Act.  This bill has been pending before the Foreign Relations Committee for nearly a year, and we held a hearing on the bill last December.  My office has worked with Senator Cardin’s staff to develop a revised version of the bill, which I strongly support.  Therefore, I would look forward to the opportunity for the Committee to consider this legislation at the next business meeting.”

The Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2011 (S. 1039) would impose a travel ban on and freeze the assets of persons responsible for the detention, abuse, and death of Sergei Magnitsky.  The bill provides penalties for persons who commit similar human rights abuses in the future.

Sergei Magnitsky was a young Russian lawyer working for an American law firm in Moscow, who uncovered corruption and tax fraud by Russian officials.  He was subsequently arrested, placed in detention, and ultimately died of pancreatitis after being refused medical care.  The bill would strengthen supporters of modernization and rule of law in Russia.

http://lugar.enews.senate.gov/mail/util.cfm?gpiv=2100086110.20036.96&gen=1

ICTJ In Focus March 2012 Issue 17

ICTJ in Focus March 2012 Issue 17