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First female nominee fails to win seat on Afghan supreme court
Source: The Guardian and agencies
First female nominee fails to win seat on Afghan supreme court
Conservatives attacked nomination of Anisa Rassouli, with one MP objecting on grounds that
menstruating women were not allowed to touch Qur’an
Sune Engel Rasmussen in Kabul and agencies
Wednesday 8 July 2015 11.47 BST
The first female nominee for Afghanistan’s supreme court has failed to win enough votes in parliament.
Anisa Rassouli received 88 votes, nine short of the 97 needed for her nomination to pass. Zahir Qadir, the deputy parliamentary speaker who was chairing the session, said: “We ask the president (Ashraf Ghani) to nominate another individual for this position.”
Wednesday’s vote came after clerics and conservatives lined up to criticise the choice of Rassouli, who has been a judge for 24 years and is the current head of Kabul’s juvenile court. They claimed only men were fit to sit in the highest court in the country.
Last month, one MP made his views clear. Menstruating women were considered unclean in Islam and were not allowed to touch the Qur’an, Qazi Nazeer Hanafi said. As judges put their hands on the holy book every day, and it was unfeasible for a supreme court judge to take a week off every month, ran his logic, Rassouli’s appointment should be opposed.
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Conservatives attacked nomination of Anisa Rassouli, with one MP objecting on grounds that
menstruating women were not allowed to touch Qur’an
Sune Engel Rasmussen in Kabul and agencies
Wednesday 8 July 2015 11.47 BST
The first female nominee for Afghanistan’s supreme court has failed to win enough votes in parliament.
Anisa Rassouli received 88 votes, nine short of the 97 needed for her nomination to pass. Zahir Qadir, the deputy parliamentary speaker who was chairing the session, said: “We ask the president (Ashraf Ghani) to nominate another individual for this position.”
Wednesday’s vote came after clerics and conservatives lined up to criticise the choice of Rassouli, who has been a judge for 24 years and is the current head of Kabul’s juvenile court. They claimed only men were fit to sit in the highest court in the country.
Last month, one MP made his views clear. Menstruating women were considered unclean in Islam and were not allowed to touch the Qur’an, Qazi Nazeer Hanafi said. As judges put their hands on the holy book every day, and it was unfeasible for a supreme court judge to take a week off every month, ran his logic, Rassouli’s appointment should be opposed.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/08/afghan-supreme-court-female-nominee-anisa-rassouli