The Lovers (53 page)

20
.   See also the discussion of Article 398 of the Afghan Penal Code in chapter 5.

21
.   Relief Web, Oct. 21, 2002, IRIN, “Afghanistan: Focus on the Plight of Widows,” http://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/afghanistan-focus-plight-widows.

22
.   John F. Burns,
New York Times,
Oct. 4, 1996, “Walled In, Shrouded and Angry in Afghanistan,” www.nytimes.com/1996/10/04/world/walled-in-shrouded-and-angry-in-afghanistan.html.

23
.   Jason Burke,
London Review of Books,
vol. 23, no. 6, Mar. 22, 2001, “Diary,” www.lrb.co.uk/v23/n06/jason-burke/diary.

24
.   Video of Zarmeena’s execution can be found at www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4l267pCGdA or on the RAWA website at www.rawa.org/temp/runews., with the actual execution video at http://www.rawa.org/zarmeena.htm.

25
.   Barbara Crossette,
New York Times,
Dec. 2, 2001, “Afghanistan’s Women: Hope for the Future, Blunted by a Hard Past,” www.nytimes.com/2001/12/02/weekinreview/the-world-afghanistan-s-women-hope-for-the-future-blunted-by-a-hard-past.html.

26
.   Oxfam, Briefing Paper, “Behind Closed Doors,” Nov. 24, 2014, www.oxfamamerica.org/static/media/files/behind-closed-doors-afghanistan-oxfam.pdf.

27
.   BBC News online, Jan. 4, 2004, “Afghans endorse new constitution,” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3366455.stm.

28
.   BBC News online, Dec. 18, 2003, “UN guarding loya jirga delegate,” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3331751.stm.

29
.   
New York Times,
July 23, 2012, p. A1, “Key Afghans Tied to ’90s Carnage,” www.nytimes.com/2012/07/23/world/asia/key-afghans-tied-to-mass-killings-in-90s-civil-war.html.

30
.   See the website of the Defense Committee for Malalai Joya at www.malalaijoya.com. See also Malalai Joya,
A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice
(New York: Scribner, 2009).

31
.   
New York Times,
July 21, 2013, p. A1, “Despite Education Advances, a Host of Afghan School Woes,” www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/world/asia/despite-education-advances-a-host-of-afghan-school-woes.html.

32
.   Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, Report, “Violence Against Women in Afghanistan 1392 (2013–2014),” http://goo.gl/yydQ7U.

33
.   Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Afghanistan, “First Report on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) Law in Afghanistan,” Mar. 2014, http://goog.gl/8EvrQk.

34
.   See also this UN study, which found that even in the 10 out of 110 EVAW cases that resulted in convictions, penalties were nearly all minor, often below the minimum mandated by law. United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, “Justice Through the Eyes of Afghan Women,” Apr. 2015, https://goog.gl/RhsrTS.

35
.   AIHRC Report, “Violence Against Women.” See note 32.

36
.   Gulnaz’s case is discussed further in chapter 7.

37
.   Of the 176 prisoners in Badam Bagh Prison in November 2014, according to Qazi Parveen of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, 75 to 85 percent of them were convicted of or charged with moral crimes. Of the prisoners in Ms. Parveen’s tally, 7 were pregnant, 3 had given birth since their incarceration, and forty children were living with their mothers in the prison (the children are not included in the tally of 176). When I visited Badam Bagh on November 14, 2014, the population on that day, according to inmate rolls provided by officials on duty, included seventy-six adultery cases, twenty-two cases of runaways, seven cases of alcohol consumption, five cases of attempted adultery—or about 65 percent moral cases. Note the runaway charges, despite the abolition of the charge of running away from home in the EVAW law of 2009.

38
.   See the website of the Research Institute for Women, Peace & Security at www.riwps-afghanistan.org.

39
.   The website of the Afghan Women’s Network’s is at www.awn-af.net.

40
.   Alissa J. Rubin,
New York Times,
Mar. 2, 2015, p. A1, “Afghan Policewomen Struggle Against Culture,” www.nytimes.com/2015/03/02/world/asia/afghan-policewomen-struggle-against-culture.html.

41
.   Lal Bibi is discussed in detail in chapter 4.

42
.   Soheila’s case is discussed further in chapter 14.

43
.   Alissa J. Rubin,
New York Times,
Mar. 3, 2014, p. A1, “A Thin Line of Defense against Honor Killings,” www.nytimes.com/2015/03/03/world/asia/afghanistan-a-thin-line-of-defense-against-honor-killings.html.

44
.   United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board, Jan. 29, 2014, “Co-Chairs’ Statement, Tokyo Mutual Accountability Framework,” http://unama.unmissions.org/Portals/UNAMA/Press%20Statements/JCMB-29Jan2014-joint-communique.pdf.

45
.   United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, Kabul, Dec. 2013, “A Way to Go: An Update on Implementation of the Law on Elimination of Violence against Women in Afghanistan,” http://goo.gl/nmdz3x.

46
.   Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Afghanistan, Mar. 2014, “First Report on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) Law in Afghanistan,” http://goo.gl/8EvrQk.

47
.   Owen Bowcott,
Guardian,
June 14, 2011, “Afghanistan worst place in world for women, but India in top five.” The article cites a survey by Thomson Reuters Foundation’s TrustLaw Woman website, about comparative conditions for women. See www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jun/15/worst-place-women-afghanistan-india.

48
.   United Nations Development Program, Human Development Index, on-line comparative tool, at http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-develop ment-index-hdi.

49
.   For more on the international impact of Afghanistan’s women’s-rights efforts, see chapter 7.

50
.   See Nasrine Gross’s remarks on this subject in chapter 7, p. 125: “Afghanistan is still the great battleground of women’s rights in the twenty-first century.”

51
.   
New York Times,
May 20, 2013, p. A8, “Effort to Strengthen an Afghan Law on Women May Backfire,” www.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/world/asia/efforts-to-strengthen-afghan-law-on-women-may-backfire.html.

52
.   Women News Network, online news site, May 20, 2013, “Law to protect women and girls in Afghanistan stalled in parliament,” http://women newsnetwork.net/2013/05/20/law-to-protect-women-girls-afghani stan-stalled-in-parliament.

53
.   Ali M. Latifi, Al Jazeera English, online news site, May 30, 2013, “Afghan women in fight over rights,” www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/05/201352711108360922.html.

54
.   
Qazi,
meaning an Islamic-law judge, is often transliterated as
Qadi
in English.

55
.   The term of that Afghan parliament expired June 21, 2015, but it was extended possibly indefinitely due to an impasse over electing a new one. See Mujib Mashal,
New York Times,
June 20, 2015, p. A6, “Afghan Parliament’s Term is Extended,” www.nytimes.com/2015/06/20/world/asia/afghan-parliaments-term-is-extended-after-squabbles-delay-elec tions.html.

56
.   Embassy of the United States, Kabul, State Department Press Release no. 2010/612, May 13, 2010, http://kabul.usembassy.gov/remarks_130510 _2.html.

57
.   Alissa J. Rubin,
New York Times,
July 31, 2010, p. A1, “Afghan Women Fear Loss of Modest Gains,” www.nytimes.com/2010/07/31/world/asia/31women.html.

58
.   United States Department of State, Archive, “U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council,” Jan. 20, 2001, to Jan. 20, 2009. The entry on the council notes that “content in this archive site is NOT UPDATED, and external links may not function.”

59
.   Facebook, “U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council,” www.facebook.com/US AfghanWC.

60
.   Feminist Majority Foundation, http://feministmajority.org. When checked in 2015, the foundation’s website had no press releases concerning Afghanistan that were dated more recently than 2013, with most even older.

61
.   See the website of Equality for Peace and Democracy at www.epd-afg.org.

62
.   See the website of Empowerment Center for Women at http://ecw.org.af/empowerment-center-for-women.

63
.   Joseph Goldstein,
New York Times,
Dec. 17, 2014, p. A16, “E.U. Confirms Wide Fraud in Afghan Presidential Runoff Election,” www.ny times.com/2014/12/17/world/asia/afghan-voting-fraud-detailed-in-new-report.html.

64
.   
New York Times,
Sept. 22, 2014, p. A1, “After Rancor, Afghans Agree to Share Power,” www.nytimes.com/2014/09/22/world/asia/afghan-presidential-election.html.

65
.   
New York Times,
July 2, 2013, p. A4, “Critics Question Karzai Choices for Human Rights Panel,” www.nytimes.com/2013/07/02/world/asia/karzai-choices-for-afghan-human-rights-panel-raise-questions.html.

66
.   The periodic production of such documents has been required by law by the U.S. Congress, the United Nations and some of its agencies, and by the European Union.

67
.   Breshna’s case is discussed in detail beginning on p. 287

68
.   Human Rights Watch, “Afghanistan: Reject Proposal to Restore Stoning,” Nov. 25, 2013, www.hrw.org/news/2013/11/25/afghanistanreject-proposal-restore-stoning.

69
.   Margherita Stancati,
Wall Street Journal,
July 5, 2013, online, “Afghan Women Fear Rights Slipping Away,” www.wsj.com/articles/SB1000142 4127887324853704578587491774651104.

70
.   Soheila’s case is discussed in more detail in chapter 14.

71
.   See the website of the International Development Law Organization at www.idlo.int/where-we-work/asia/afghanistan.

72
.   I refused to accept the condition that IDLO would speak to me about Zakia and Ali only on guarantee of anonymity of the organization and those I interviewed in it. I currently have a Freedom of Information Act request pending to find out how much IDLO was paid by the U.S. government for work on the couples’ case, what if anything it did (on only one known instance did IDLO, through one of its Afghan employees, interview the couple, according to Zakia and Ali), and how much it has been paid for other EVAW-law-related projects, such as its strongly criticized program to train Afghan judges in application of that law. See also John F. Sopko, special inspector general for Afghan reconstruction, letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, July 22, 2013, available online at www.sigar.mil/pdf/alerts/SIGAR-Alert-13-6%20IDLO.pdf. The letter questions IDLO’s capacity to handle a $50-million rule-of-law training program through a subcontractor and complained that the group had failed to respond to the inspector general’s concerns that it had accomplished little of value. IDLO replied, according to a press release dated July 25, 2013 (available at www.idlo.int/news/highlights/sigars-letter-secretary-john-kerry-incorrect) that SIGAR’s criticisms were based on “incorrect or incomplete information” and cited two cases, one an IDLO-trained lawyer who won an acquittal of a woman charged with running away and the other an IDLO-trained judge who sentenced a wife-beater to prison. No names, dates, or other details were given to verify those cases.