Afghanistan: Reinstate Malalai Joya in Parliament

On May 21, 2007, the lower house of the Afghan parliament, the Wolesi Jirga, voted to suspend Malalai Joya, a female MP elected from Farah province. Malalai was accused of insulting the parliament and suspended until the end of her term in 2009.  
 
Malalais suspension occurred after she appeared in a television interview comparing the parliament to an animal stable. Malalai told Human Rights Watch that her remarks were edited out of context. She said that her statement divided parliamentarians into two groups one of which was working to uphold democratic principles while the other was undermining them, thereby serving the Afghan population even less than animals in a stable. Malalai has since received numerous death threats by phone and night letters (posted threats) and now lives in hiding. She receives no security protection from parliament or the government.  
 
Afghanistan is requesting billions of dollars in assistance from donors next month and presenting itself as an emerging democracy, said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. If Malalai Joya remains suspended for exercising her right to free expression and has to keep moving around because of threats for which the government does nothing, what does this say about the state of human rights and democracy?  
 
Malalai is an outspoken human rights activist who has publicly criticized warlords and drug barons in Afghanistan. At 29, she is the youngest member of the Wolesa Jirga. In 2003, she gained international attention for speaking out publicly against warlords elected to the constitutional assembly and involved in drafting the Afghan constitution. Two years later, she was the top vote-getter from Farah province in Afghanistans parliamentary elections.  

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