A leading international rights group yesterday urged the Afghan parliament to reinstate a female MP who was suspended after saying her colleagues were "worse than cows and donkeys."
Malalai Joya, one of the country's most high-profile female politicians, was voted out of the lower house on Monday by her fellow MPs over the comments, which she made in a television interview.
The journalist who conducted the interview said Joya had said parliament was worse than a stable because in a stable, at least, there are "cows which provide milk and you have got donkeys which can carry loads."
PHOTO: AP
"They are worse than cows and donkeys -- they're dragons," she said.
In a statement, Human Rights Watch said she should be reinstated immediately and urged parliament to revise procedures which it said restricted freedom of speech.
"Malalai Joya is a staunch defender of human rights and a powerful voice for Afghan women," said Brad Adams, the rights watchdog's Asia director. "Joya's comments don't warrant the punishment she received."
The group said that while parliament's rules of procedure forbid lawmakers from criticizing one another, MPs had regularly done so without anyone else having been suspended.
"The article banning criticism of parliament is an unreasonable rule that violates the principle of free speech enshrined in international law and valued around the world," Adams said. "The Afghan parliament should be setting an example by promoting and protecting free expression, not by stamping it out."
When a hiker fell from a 55m waterfall in wild New Zealand bush, rescuers were forced to evacuate the badly hurt woman without her dog, which could not be found. After strangers raised thousands of dollars for a search, border collie Molly was flown to safety by a helicopter pilot who was determined to reunite the pet and the owner. A week earlier, an emergency rescue helicopter found the woman with bruises and lacerations after a fall at a rocky spot at the waterfall on the South Island’s West Coast. She was airlifted on March 24, but they were forced to
CONFIDENCE BOOSTER: ’After parkour ... you dare to do a lot of things that you think only young people can do,’ a 67-year-old parkour enthusiast said In a corner of suburban Singapore, Betty Boon vaults a guardrail, crawls underneath a slide, executes forward shoulder rolls and scales a steep slope, finishing the course to applause. “Good job,” the 69-year-old’s coach cheers. This is “geriatric parkour,” where about 20 retirees learned to tackle a series of relatively demanding exercises, building their agility and enjoying a sense of camaraderie. Boon, an upbeat grandmother, said learning parkour has aided her confidence and independence as she ages. “When you’re weak, you will be dependent on someone,” she said after sweating it out with her parkour classmates in suburban Toa Payoh,
HIGH HOPES: The power source is expected to have a future, as it is not dependent on the weather or light, and could be useful for places with large desalination facilities A Japanese water plant is harnessing the natural process of osmosis to generate renewable energy that could one day become a common power source. The possibility of generating power from osmosis — when water molecules pass from a less salty solution to a more salty one — has long been known. However, actually generating energy from that has proved more complicated, in part due the difficulty of designing the membrane through which the molecules pass. Engineers in Fukuoka, Japan, and their private partners think they might have cracked it, and have opened what is only the world’s second osmotic power plant. It generates
Chinese dissident artist Gao Zhen (高兟), famous for making provocative satirical sculptures of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東), was tried on Monday over accusations of “defaming national heroes and martyrs,” his wife and a rights group said. Gao, 69, who was detained in 2024 during a visit from the US, faces a maximum three-year prison sentence, said his wife, Zhao Yaliang (趙雅良), and Shane Yi, a researcher at the Chinese Human Rights Defenders group which operates outside the nation. The closed-door, one-day trial took place at Sanhe City People’s Court in Hebei Province neighboring the capital, Beijing, and ended without a
RSS