UN Human Rights Official Calls For Taliban To Allow Equal Education For Women and End Child Marriage

Last week (Aug. 24), Reem Alsalem, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, issued a lengthy statement (full text) in response to an Aug. 17 news conference by Taliban leaders in Afghanistan.  The Taliban stated that women could work and girls could go to school "as long as such activities are in accordance with Sharia law." Alsalem said in part:

According to the Quran, no one has the right to impose religion, including religious law, on anyone else (verse 2:256).  This egalitarian approach to religious authority has found expression in the rich plurality and diversity of religious understanding and schools of jurisprudence (madhahib) which we have until today. Notably, women, like men also have an equal right and responsibility to interpret Sharia. It would be important that this rich diverse heritage would be allowed to continue all over the Muslim World, including in Afghanistan....

The  principles of justice and equality between the sexes mean that women and girls are entitled to seeking and accessing education on an equal footing as men. The first verses of the Quran that were revealed to the Prophet commanded all human beings, both man and woman to "learn" (Iqra') (verses 96:1-5) and to seek knowledge (verses 16:78; 17:85, and 20:114)....

As reports have been recently resurfaced of increased forced marriages, including child marriages, it is important to underline that for a Muslim marriage contract to be valid it needs to fulfill several requirements – key being that both individuals give their free consent....

Islamic jurisprudence on this is clear: All marriages must be carried out by mature individuals who have the mental, legal, intellectual, and physical capacity to give consent. This requirement means that child marriages are by definition null and void. In essence, a forced marriage is equivalent to rape, which is an abhorrent crime that is strictly forbidden in Islamic law and considered as hiraba (unlawful societal warfare), and for which the prescribed punishments are severe.

Suit Claims Utah Medical Marijuana Initiative Violates Mormons' Religious Freedom

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that yesterday a suit was filed in Utah state court seeking, on free exercise and free speech grounds, to remove Utah's medical marijuana initiative from the November ballot.  The suit, citing the U.S. Supreme Court's recent Masterpiece Cakeshop decision, challenges the provision (Sec. 26-60b-110) in the initiative (full text) that bars refusals to rent to a medical marijuana card holder. The complaint reads in part:

In the United States of America, members of all religions, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have a constitutional right to exercise their religious beliefs. This includes the right not to consort with, be around, or do business with people engaging in activities which their religion finds repugnant....

The State of Utah is attempting to compel the speech of Utah landowners by suppressing their ability to speak out against cannabis use and consumption by only renting to tenants who do not possess or consume cannabis," the complaint reads, “and who support their viewpoints in opposition against cannabis possession and consumption.

In the suit, plaintiff contends that his "religious beliefs include a strict adherence to a code of health which precludes the consumption and possession of mind-altering drugs, substances and chemicals, which includes cannabis and its various derivatives." Apparently this is based on interpretation of the Mormon Word of Wisdom health code.

Muslim Scholars Are Target of Taliban

A New York Times report (May 28) is titled Taliban Target: Scholars of Islam.  It recounts in part:

The scholars have long been targets, of one kind or another, in Afghanistan. Their words carry weight across many parts of society, and they are assiduously courted for their support — and frequently killed for their criticism.

Hundreds are believed to have been killed over the past 16 years of war, and not always by the Taliban. But there has been a definite uptick in the targeted killing of scholars — widely known as ulema — as the Taliban have intensified their offensives in the past two years, officials say.

It is being taken as a clear reminder of the weight the insurgents give not just to military victories but also to religious influence in their campaign to disrupt the government and seize territory.

Afghan Appeals Court Overturns Death Sentences In Mob Killing of Falsely-Accused Quran Burner

According to CNN, an Afghanistan appellate court in a secret session has overturned the death sentences of four men who were convicted in May in the brutal  mob killing of Farkhunda, a 27-year old woman who was falsely accused of burning the Qur'an.  (See prior posting.) The report which CNN received yesterday from a judge with knowledge of the decision, says that 3 of the men were re-sentenced to 20-year terms and one to 10 years.

Afghan President Appoints First Woman To Supreme Court, But Clerics Object

Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani has appointed the country's first female Supreme Court judge according to yesterday's Euronews.  Ghani fulfilled an election promise by appointing Anisa Rassouli, former head of the Afghan Women Judges Association.  Rassouli's appointment must still be approved by Parliament. Ghani says he has religious approval for the appointment, but Islamic clerics on the Ulema Council of Afghanistan say that Sharia law prohibits a woman from occupying the position of judge.

Afgahn Court Sentences Men Charged In Mob Killing Of Woman Falsely Accused of Burning Quran

Yesterday Afghanistan's Primary Court in Kabul sentenced four men to death by hanging for the mob killing of a 27-year old woman who was falsely accused of burning the Qur'an.  Eight others were sentenced to 16 years in prison, while charges were dropped against 18 men for lack of evidence.  Nineteen police officers charged in the case with neglect of duty and failure to stop the attacks will be sentenced on Saturday. AP reports:

On March 19, a mob attacked Farkhunda after an amulet peddler accused her of burning a Quran after she challenged him over selling his wares to women desperate to have children. Chilling mobile phone videos recorded the horror of the last moments of Farkhunda's life, as she was punched, kicked, beaten with wooden planks, thrown off a roof, run over by a car and ultimately set afire on the banks of Kabul River.

The two full days of hearings in Farkhunda's trial were broadcast live across the country.

Afghan President To US Congress: Moderate Muslims Must Speak Out

Afghanistan's new President, Ashraf Ghani, in a visit to the United States this week (New York Times), addressed a joint session of Congress yesterday.  In his speech (full text and video), Ghani called for changes within Islam, saying in part:

We are willing to speak truth about terror.  Military fighting may stem the advance of extremism, but it will not put an end to the anger and hatred being promulgated across majority countries from these groups. That hate must be challenged and overcome from within the religion of Islam.  Who is entitled to speak for Islam?  Leaders, intellectuals and those many millions of Muslims who believe that Islam is a religion of tolerance and virtue must find their voice.  Silence is not acceptable.  But silence is not what the world will hear from us.  Afghanistan is joining a new consensus that's emerging in the Muslim world.  A consensus that rejects intolerance, extremism and war...

The Islamic world must understand its own gloriously tolerant and inquisitive past.  It must re-engage with the world openly and without paranoia.  We, the unity government of Afghanistan, know that Islam is a religion of peace.... The Declaration of Human Rights is firmly embedded in our Constitution....

NYT Details Plight of Christian Convert In Afghanistan

The New York Times yesterday reported at length on the plight in Afghanistan of a Muslim convert to Christianity (identified only as "Josef") who is in hiding as his brother-in-law and uncles are seeking to find him and kill him for apostasy. More generally, according to the report:

In official eyes here, there are no Afghan Christians. The few Afghans who practice the faith do so in private for fear of persecution, attending one of a handful of underground churches that are believed to be operating in the country. Expatriates use chapels on embassy grounds, but those are effectively inaccessible to Afghans.

Only a few Afghan converts have surfaced in the past decade, and the government has typically dealt with them swiftly and silently: They are asked to recant, and if they refuse, they are expelled, usually to India, where an Afghan church flourishes in New Delhi....

That leaves Josef almost nowhere to turn for protection. The police would be no help. Converts report being beaten and sexually abused while in custody.