Karzai rejects criticism of women's law

Afghan President Hamid Karzai yesterday rejected Western criticism that a new law imposes Taliban-style restrictions on women but ordered a review and vowed to correct anything of concern.

Karzai has come under heavy blame from his allies, including Canada and France, for signing a law that Western media reports say means Shiite women cannot refuse their husbands sex or leave the house without his permission.

He told reporters that concerns may have arisen because of mistranslation or misinterpretation.

"Issues that have been mentioned in the Western media, such things are not in our law," he said, pledging nonetheless to have the document reviewed.

"But the minister of justice will study the whole law, every item of it, very, very carefully."

The president said that if any cause for concern was found, the ulema (religious clerics) would be consulted and the law sent back to the parliament.

He said anything found, contrary to Afghanistan's post-Taliban constitution - which enshrines gender equality - would "no doubt" be corrected.

"This is something we are also serious about and should not allow," he added. The Shiite Personal Status Law covers Afghanistan's Shiite minority, which makes up about 15 per cent of the population, and was drafted on their request because of certain differences with Sunnis about Islamic Sharia law.

The UN human rights chief in Afghanistan, Navi Pillay, last Thursday urged the Afghan government to revoke new legislation, saying it was "reminiscent of the decrees made by the Taliban regime".

The ultraconservative 1996-2001 Taliban government stopped girls from going to school and women from working, and forced women to wear all-covering burkas and have a male relative as an escort when they left the house.

Under the new regulations, Shiite women would be forbidden from leaving their homes except for "legitimate purposes", Pillay's office said.

They are also banned from working or being educated without their husbands' permission, it said.

Canada has demanded an explanation for the "extremely alarming" legislation and France said it was "shocked".