The European Union has blocked the release of a documentary titled: In-Justice: The Story of Afghan Women in Jail directed by Clementine Malpas. The film highlights the plight of women who are in jail for so-called moral crimes .
The EU says it decided to withdraw the film - which it commissioned and paid for - because of very real concerns for the safety of the women portrayed .
Half of Afghanistan's women prisoners are inmates for zina or moral crimes. Some
of the women convicted of zina are guilty of nothing more than running away from forced marriages or violent husbands. Human rights activists say hundreds of those behind bars are victims of domestic violence.
Amnesty International says it
is important to lift the lid on one of Afghanistan's most shameful judicial practices .
The documentary told the story of a 19-year-old prisoner called Gulnaz. After she was raped, she was charged with adultery. Her baby girl, born
following the rape, is serving her sentence with her.
At first my sentence was two years, Gulnaz said, as her baby coughed in her arms. When I appealed it became 12 years. I didn't do anything. Why should I be sentenced for so long?
But for Gulnaz there is now the hope of freedom. Her name is on a list of women to be pardoned, according to a prison official, but as she has no lawyer, the paperwork has yet to be processed. Gulnaz's pardon may be in the works because she has
agreed - after 18 months of resisting - to marry her rapist.
- Banned on grounds of danger for those that contributed
See article from google.com
Associated Press throw some light on the humanitarian reasons for the ban. AP obtained transcripts of the interviews in which the women gave consent to take part if the film were only shown outside the country. The EU maintained there was
still a risk the film could end up on the Internet, making it available inside Afghanistan.
The filmmakers argue the matter should be left to the women to decide. Any potential risk to the women must be balanced against their clear and express
wish to tell their stories, and we have obtained their informed consent to do so, said the director, Clementine Malpas ... Ultimately, it is their decision, and we admire their clear-eyed courage to speak out. It is not for us to veto their
voices.
HBO have aired a similar film
See article from
icplaces.com
HBO aired Love Crimes of Kabul in July. It tells the story of an Afghan women's prison and the 50% of inmates who are held there for moral crimes .
Love Crimes of Kabul deals directly with Badam Bagh Women's Prison and the ladies that are imprisoned for defying the moral codes of a region. It is directed by Iranian-American Tanaz Eshaghian.
Eshaghian found three particular subjects
that provide intimate looks into the moral struggle that wages on in Afghanistan and elsewhere in that part of the world. Each of the ladies faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted and all are currently awaiting trial.
Marriage in the country is
still mostly an arranged affair and thus all three circumstances revolve around that practice.
Kareema, Aleema, and Sabereh are all under the age of 22. Kareema's boyfriend got her pregnant, Aleema ran away from an abusive home and was accidently
sold to an undercover cop by the women she was staying with, and Sabereh was found in the closet with a boy by her father.
Rape Victim released after 'agreeing' to marry the rapist
4th December 2011. See article from rferl.org
Aghan President Hamid Karzai has pardoned an Afghan woman serving a 12-year prison sentence for adultery after being a victim of rape.
Karzai's office released a statement saying the woman and her attacker agreed to marry.
Maybe not agreeing to marry the rapist
5th December 2011. See article from bbc.co.uk
An Afghan rape victim who
was jailed for adultery does not have to marry her attacker to be freed, her lawyer has told the BBC.
Lawyer Kimberly Motley says this was clarified personally to her by President Hamid Karzai's office.
Karzai pardoned the woman, named as
Gulnaz, earlier this week, but some reports had said this was on condition that she married her attacker.
On Friday, Ms Kimberly said that 21-year-old Gulnaz would be released with no pre-conditions and would then be free to marry whomever she
chooses.
Update: Freed
18th December 2011. See article from
bbc.co.uk
An Afghan woman jailed for adultery after a relative raped her has been freed, her lawyer has told the BBC.
The woman, known only as Gulnaz, was released on the
orders of President Hamid Karzai, who pardoned her earlier this month.
Her lawyer told the BBC that she was released without precondition, dispelling fears that she may have to marry her attacker.