Karzai Orders Review of 'Rape Law'

President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has ordered a review of a new law that has been criticized internationally for introducing Taliban-era restrictions on women and sanctioning marital rape.

Karzai defended the law, which concerns family law for the Shiite minority, and said that Western news reports were misinformed.

Nevertheless, he said that his justice minister would review it and make amendments if the law was found to contravene the Constitution.

"The Western media have either mistranslated or taken incorrect information and then published it," Karzai said Saturday in the presidential palace. "If there is anything in contradiction with our Constitution or Shariah, or freedoms granted by the Constitution, we will take action in close consultation with the clerics of the country."

If changes are needed, he said, the bill would be sent back to Parliament.

Human rights officials have criticized the law, in particular for restricting when a woman can leave her house and for stating the circumstances in which she has to have sex with her husband.

There are also reportedly restrictions on work and education for women.

A Shiite woman would be allowed to leave home only "for a legitimate purpose," which the law does not define. The law also says, "unless the wife is ill, the wife is bound to give a positive response to the sexual desires of her husband." Critics have said that provision legalizes marital rape.

The law also outlines rules on divorce, child custody and marriage, all in ways that discriminate against women, said Dr. Soraya Sobhrang, commissioner for women's rights at the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.

The law applies only to Shiites, who represent about 10 percent of the population, but its passage could influence a proposed family law for Sunnis and a draft law on violence against women, Sobhrang said. "This opens the way for more discrimination," she said.

Karzai signed the law last week after a vote in Parliament last month, Sobhrang said, adding that she had seen a copy of the law with his signature.

But a presidential spokesman, Homayun Hamidzada, would not confirm that Karzai had signed the law and said only that he was still reviewing it.

Karzai's decision to review the law came after a storm of criticism in recent days. Canada called in the Afghan ambassador for an explanation, and NATO's secretary general questioned why the alliance was sending men and women to fight in Afghanistan when discrimination against women was condoned by law.

Asked about the law at a news conference in France on Saturday, President Barack Obama called it "abhorrent."

"We think that it is very important for us to be sensitive to local culture," he said, "but we also think that there are certain basic principles that all nations should uphold, and respect for women and respect for their freedom and integrity is an important principle."

Also Saturday, the Italian defense minister said that Italy was considering a temporary withdrawal of the women serving in its force in Afghanistan to protest the law, Reuters reported.

The U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Navanethem Pillay, said the law is a "huge step in the wrong direction."

"For a new law in 2009 to target women in this way is extraordinary, reprehensible and reminiscent of the decrees made by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in the 1990s," Pillay said in a statement posted on her agency's Web site.

In addition to the clauses on when women may leave the home and must submit to their husbands, Pillay said she was concerned about a section that forbids women from working or receiving education without their husband's permission.

The leading cleric behind the family law, Sheik Muhammad Asif Mohseni, complained last week that he was dissatisfied with amendments that Parliament had made. Speaking on his own television channel, Tamadun Television, he objected to the introduction of a legal age for marriage, 16 for women and 18 for men, saying that people should be able to decide for themselves.

Human rights officials consider raising the marriage age a critical step toward ending the practice of forced marriages and the marriage of young girls.