Afghan Parliament Urged To Reinstate Legislator

Malalai Joya is one of the country's most high-profile female legislators (AFP)

May 24, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Human Rights Watch is urging the Afghan parliament to reinstate a member who was suspended for comparing colleagues to animals.

Malalai Joya was suspended by parliament on May 21 for saying parliament was less useful than a donkey or a cow.

Human Rights Watch said members of the Afghan parliament regularly criticized each other, but no one else had been suspended.

It said the Afghan parliament should revise rules restricting freedom of speech.

The rights group describes Joya as a "staunch defender of human rights and a powerful voice for Afghan women."

(with material from AFP)