President Karzai: Afghanistan to Amend Controversial Personal Status Law
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 11:13 AM

President Hamid Karzai told CNN that the government will amend the law which arguably legalizes marital rape in Shia families. Karzai said that he signed the law without being aware of all of its provisions, some of which he now realizes contravene the constitution and Shari’a law.

The President’s statements concur with what Said Jawad, Afghan Ambassador to the U.S., said earlier this month. Jawad told Bloomberg, “This is not the law yet, and it will not become the law, because it contradicts some important principles of the Afghan constitution.”

Compiled from: Afghanistan to change controversial 'rape' law, CNN, 16 April 2009; Afghan Government will Revise Controversial Law, Says Karzai, Feminist Daily News Wire, 17 April 2009; Afghanistan Won’t Legalize Forced Marital Sex, Ambassador Says, Bloomberg, 11 April 2009.