JURIST - Paper Chase: Afghanistan lower house removes controversial female MP

[JURIST] Afghanistan's Wolesi Jirga [IRIN backgrounder], the lower house of the Afghan parliament, removed outspoken parliamentarian Malalai Joya [BBC profile] on Monday after she unfavorably compared the parliament to a stable. Joya's remarks, made during a private television interview, held that a stable was better "for there you have a donkey that carries a load and a cow that provides milk." In 2005, Joya won a seat in the first democratically elected Afghan parliament in 30 years, and has since made a reputation for her outspoken criticism of human rights abusers. At the parliament's inaugural session [JURIST report] Joya called for Afghanistan's "criminal warlords" to be brought to justice [JURIST report], prompting pounding fists and shouts from other members.

In March, Afghan President Hamid Karzai [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] signed a war crimes amnesty bill into law [JURIST report], barring the state from independently prosecuting individuals for war crimes absent accusation from an alleged victim. The bill was previously approved [JURIST report] by parliament, and extends immunity to all groups involved in pre-2002 conflicts. Sixty-eight women are represented in the Wolesi Jirga, which has 248 representatives. Twenty-five percent of the seats are reserved for women. Reuters has more.

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