Karzai reviews 'spousal rape' law

KABUL, Afghanistan, April 4 (UPI) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai has told officials to review a new law that critics say authorizes spousal rape and imposes new restrictions on women.

International human rights groups have criticized the law because it prescribes conditions on when a Shiite Muslim wife must have sexual relations with a husband. Speaking with reporters in Kabul Saturday, Karzai defended the law and said its Western critics are misinformed, The New York Times reported.

"The Western media have either mistranslated or taken incorrect information and then published it," he said. "If there is anything in contradiction with our Constitution or Shariah (Islamic law), or freedoms granted by the Constitution, we will take action in close consultation with the clerics of the country."

The law forbids Shiite women from leaving their homes except for "a legitimate purpose," but does not provide a definition of that term, the Times said.

Critics of the law say the provision on sexual relations -- "Unless the wife is ill, the wife is bound to give a positive response to the sexual desires of her husband" -- amounts to sanctioned rape by husbands.

Soraya Sobhran of the Afghan Human Rights Commission said provisions in the law on divorce, child custody and marriage discriminate against women. Sobhran told the newspaper Karzai signed the law last week but a spokesman for Karzai would not confirm that he had signed it, saying only that the president was reviewing it.