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.

USCIRF Reports On 10 Countries That Use Sharia To Justify Death Penalty For Same-Sex Relationships

This week, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued a Fact Sheet on The Use of Shari’a as Religious Justification for Capital Punishment Against LGBTI Persons. It states in part:

There are 10 countries where consensual same-sex relationships are formally punishable by death, all of which justify denial of rights and personhood on official interpretations of Shari’a.

It lists those countries as: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Nigeria, Somalia, Mauritania, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Pakistan, Afghanistan.

UAE Liberalizes Personal Status and Penal Laws

The United Arab Emirates today announced liberalizing changes in its Sharia-based personal laws. The Hill, The National, and Emirates News Agency all report on the changes made by Presidential Decree to the Personal Status, Civil Transactions, Penal Code and Criminal Procedural laws.  The changes, many involving protections for foreigners living in the UAE, take effect immediately. They include:

• Repeal of the provisions allowing more lenient sentences for so-called "honor crimes".
• Divorces of foreigners who were married abroad will be governed by the laws of their home country instead of Sharia law.
• The law of a person's home country, rather than Sharia law, will govern division of assets on death where no will is left.
• Attempted suicide is decriminalized.
• "Good Samaritans" who intervene to help another person will not be held accountable for the person's injury or death.
• More severe punishments are set for harassment of women.
• Death penalty is prescribed for rape of a minor or of someone of limited mental capacity.
• Alcohol consumption in authorized areas by adults who do not have a license to consume liquor is decriminalized. Typically Muslims have been denied a license.
• Cohabitation by unmarried couples is decriminalized.
• Translators will be provided in courts for defendants and witnesses, and evidence involving indecent acts will not be made public.