KABUL, Afghanistan - A female Afghan lawmaker who called powerful armed leaders “criminals” two years ago and called some lawmakers warlords last week in Parliament now changes houses every night because of death threats, she said. Malalai Joya made her first comments against former warlords during Afghanistan’s constitutional council in December 2003. Last week, she was given her first extended chance to speak at Parliament since being elected last October.“I thought it’s good to expose warlords, even in the national house,” the 28-year-old lawmaker said in an interview Saturday. “When I came into Parliament they understood I was this person that I was two years before.”
After her speech last Sunday, plastic water bottles were thrown at her and a scuffle broke out between her supporters and those denouncing her. No one was seriously injured, but Joya said lawmakers hurled insults at her. “They said, ’We will rape her.’ They said that in Parliament,” she said.
| Some are stuck firmly in the 7th century. |
Speaking with power and passion, Joya said she canÂ’t keep track of the number of death threats sheÂ’s received since her first speech to the constitutional council in 2003. She travels with three bodyguards, she said.
Mohammed Ismail Qasemyar, a former Supreme Court justice and professor of constitutional law at Kabul University, said he thinks Joya is good for the political process in Afghanistan and helps fuel the idea of freedom of expression. “She has the right to express herself, and then the person who does not agree with her, let him also stand up and say ’No,”’ said Qasemyar, a former presidential candidate. “I’m for tolerance, especially in the Parliament.”
Joya, who also speaks passionately for women’s rights, said she will keep speaking out against the people she says committed crimes against other Afghans during its past wars. “They know very well I will never be silent. I will never be afraid,” she said. “We will all die someday.”