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Afghan delegate under UN protection after outburst
Kabul — A female delegate at a landmark Afghan constitutional council is under UN protection after an outburst against Afghan warlords raised fears of a violent backlash, a United Nations spokesman and other delegates said Thursday.
The controversy threatens to overshadow the work of the council, known as a loya jirga, which has brought together 500 delegates from across Afghanistan to debate and ratify a new constitution that will set the war-plagued country on the road to democratic elections.
Malalai Joya, a delegate from western Farah province, has been moved from the compound housing other representatives and is staying at a guarded UN facility, although she is still attending sessions during the day, said Nadeera Hayat Barhani, a female delegate from Balkh province.
“Last night, Malalai Joya was not in her room. She was with the United Nations,” Ms. Barhani said. “She was at the loya jirga today but we can't say she is safe, because she is still under the protection of the UN.”
UN spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva acknowledged that Ms. Joya was under its protection but would not say where.
“Arrangements were ... made, responding to her concerns, so that she feels secure during these days that she is here in Kabul,” Mr. Almeida e Silva said. “I am afraid I will not be able to disclose to you details of security measures taken, otherwise they are no longer security measures.”
Ms. Joya set off controversy on Wednesday when she condemned the allocation of positions of influence at the council given to faction leaders such as former president Burhanuddin Rabbani and Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, a deeply conservative Islamist.
The men, who were key participants in Afghanistan's ruinous civil war in the 1990s, have been selected as committee chairmen at the council.
“Why have you again selected as committee chairmen those criminals who have brought these disasters for the Afghan people?” Ms. Joya said. “In my opinion they should be taken to the World Court.”
Another female delegate, Anahika Adamir, told Associated Press that Ms. Joya lost six family members in a rocket attack during the civil war. Ms. Adamir said Ms. Joya is being accompanied to and from the loya jirga site by UN personnel
Ms. Joya's comments set off a shouting match with dozens of hard-liners at the council who denounced her as a communist and demanded that she be removed from the session.
On Thursday, Amnesty International criticized Ms. Joya's treatment, saying she had received death threats on the floor of the assembly. They called on the council chairman, an ally of President Hamid Karzai, to ensure her right to speak.
“If delegates are threatened or otherwise prevented from expressing their views, this process of building a new future for Afghanistan will be severely threatened,” the human-rights group said in a statement.
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