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Holy War Engulfs Afghan Feminist
Wednesday, August 7, 2002
By Geoffrey York
The Globe and Mail

While women are now officially allowed to go to school and work outside the home, many continue to face persecution. Some female candidates to June's loya jirga (grand council) were intimidated and threatened. Other women were harassed when they stopped wearing burqas. In southern Afghanistan, a man threw acid in the face of a female teacher, telling her that she should not be working.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- G&M
On a quiet residential street in Kabul, near a mosque, a single house is guarded by high walls and huge rolls of razor wire.

This is the home of Sima Samar, the most famous female politician in Afghanistan -- and perhaps the most in danger of losing her life.

Her Muslim fundamentalist enemies have branded her "the Salman Rushdie of Afghanistan," an ominous hint that she could be killed for blasphemy against Islam.

The rolls of protective razor wire were erected around her house a few days ago by soldiers from the U.S.-led military coalition in Kabul. "They suggested it because they had a lot of evidence of real threats and intimidation against me," Dr. Samar said in an interview.

Only a few months ago, she seemed to be a symbol of hope. She had become the first Minister of Women's Affairs in Afghanistan's history. A physician and feminist who ran health clinics and schools for girls in Afghan refugee camps, she was named to the interim cabinet in Kabul last December and became one of the new government's vice-presidents. She was invited to Washington as a guest of U.S. President George W. Bush for his State of the Union speech in January.

But it all fell apart in June when she ran afoul of Afghanistan's still-powerful Muslim fundamentalists. She was dismissed from cabinet and is now a graphic symbol of how Afghan women can be persecuted, even after the fall of the Taliban regime.
(More: The Globe and Mail News Source)
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Dan