Afghan judges free three jailed for torture of child bride Sahar Gul

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Afghan judges free three jailed for torture of child bride Sahar Gul

Emma Graham-Harrison in Kabul
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 11 July 2013 20.28 BST

Human rights activists have warned of an new assault on women's rights in Afghanistan after judges and prosecutors allowed the early release of three people convicted for the brutal torture of a child bride, and conservative lawmakers made an aggressive bid to prevent relatives testifying against each other.

If successful, the small change – introduced covertly into the criminal prosecution code – would stop the vast majority of cases of violence against women from ever reaching court.

Together with the quashing of three convictions for the attempted murder of the teenager Sahar Gul, it marks an alarming two-pronged assault on women's rights by both those who make the laws and those tasked with upholding them.

"The last two months have really been a parade of horrible for women's rights in Afghanistan," said Heather Barr, Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch, warning that the proposed change to the criminal code would leave most abused women with no legal protection against violence.

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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/11/afghan-judges-free-sahar-guls-torturers

[shenmue]

1. I hope...

one day there will be an uprising like there was in Egypt.

Can we just start airlifting all the women out of there?

[niyad]

2. and the war on women continues apace. hmmm, wasn't one of the many justifications for

the war in this country because of the treatment of women. so, we have been there how many years, and the situation is apparently getting worse.

[sheshe2]

3. When is it going to end.