Hundreds of Afghan women jailed for committing 'moral crimes': Report

Kabul, Mar 29(ANI): Hundreds of Afghan women have been jailed for committing for "moral crimes", including running away and having extra-marital sex, new report has found.

The Human Rights Watch report said that Afghan women were punished for fleeing domestic abuse and violence while some rape victims were also imprisoned.

"Some women and girls have been convicted of zina, sex outside of marriage, after being raped or forced into prostitution," the report said.

"The treatment of women and girls accused of 'moral crimes' is a black eye on the face of the post-Taliban Afghan government and its international backers, all of whom promised that respect for women's rights would distinguish the new government from the Taliban," it added.

The report titled 'I Had to Run Away report' was released in Kabul on March 28.

It also accused Afghanistan of failing to fulfil its obligations under international human rights laws and called on the government to release about 400 women and girls held in jails or juvenile detention centres.

"It is shocking that 10 years after the overthrow of the Taliban, women and girls are still imprisoned for running away from domestic violence or forced marriage," BBC quoted HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth, as saying.

It said that the situation had been compounded by Afghan President Hamid Karzai's changing stance on women's rights. (ANI)

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