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Iraq women split on Islam role in new
constitution
27.7.2005
By Carlos Hamann - BAGHDAD
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Some Iraqi women fear a
return to the dark ages while others say such fears
are overblown.
Iraqi women are split over how great a role Islam
should play in the new constitution, currently being
drafted in parliament, with some fearing "a return
to the dark ages".
An early draft of the constitution published in the
local Al-Sabah newspaper on Tuesday made clear that
Islam is to be "the official religion of the State"
and "the main source of legislation."
The text is supported by the conservative Shiite
majority in Iraq's parliament.
"No law that contradicts the universally agreed
tenets of Islam may be enacted," reads the draft,
still under discussion by a parliamentary committee
and subject to revision.
Parliamentary speaker Hajim Al-Hasani made clear he
did not believe this meant the rule of Sharia, or
Islamic law.
"I think there's an agreement (in parliament) that
we should not include Sharia in the constitution,"
he said.
There are different interpretations of Sharia law,
Hasani said, so "why open that door?"
But for women's rights activist Yannar Mohammed any
reference to Islam in the constitution "will take us
back to the Dark Ages."
Mohammed fears that any such language could allow
public floggings and stoning of adulterers, and
granting clerics the last word in matters of
marriage, divorce and inheritance.
"The liberation of Iraq has unleashed the darkest
forces in the country," said Mohammed. "We will be
losing the basic protections as women and public
citizens" if this language is adopted.
Samira Al-Moussawi, a petroleum engineer and one of
the 87 women elected to Iraq's 275-member
parliament, says such fears are "overblown".
"There is nothing to be afraid of. No ideas will be
imposed by law," said Moussawi, a member of the
Shiite parliamentary majority.
Moussawi said that since most Iraqis are Muslim it
is natural to refer to Islam in the constitution.
MPs from all political groups "will discuss these
subjects then we can reach a standard we can agree
upon on," she said.
"Nobody should be scared because there will be no
items that have not been reached by agreement."
Iraq's current parliament was elected in January
under guidelines written during the US Coalition
Provisional Authority that mandates a minimum 25
percent female representation in the assembly.
Currently, nine women MPs work on the 71-member
committee drafting the constitution.
Being a woman MP in Iraq is a dangerous job: in late
April Lamiya Abed Khaduri, from former prime
minister Iyad Allawi's party, was shot dead on her
doorstep.
And in May Salama al-Khafaji, an independent MP
elected on the Shiite alliance ticket, survived a
fourth attempt on her life in two years.
The head of the women's caucus in Kurdistan's
regional parliament, Pakhshan Zagana, is currently
in Baghdad as part of a delegation lobbying
constitution writers.
"We must work hard to convince society that women
are entitled to their own opinions," said Zagana,
who wants a mandatory 40 percent female
representation in all ministries as well as
national, regional and local elected bodies.
Zagana, a Muslim, respects Islamic law but
believes it limits personal freedoms. "It is very
sad when I see women asking for less rights," she
said.
The increase in killings, rapes and abductions since
the March 2003 US-led invasion "have restricted
women’s freedom of movement and their ability to go
to school or to work," according to a February
report on women in Iraq by Amnesty International.
The report decried "a backlash from conservative
social and political forces" that "threatens to
stifle their attempts to gain new freedoms."
The backlash includes zealots monitoring women's
attire and even attacks with acid on women deemed to
be under-dressed, said a Baghdad-based Western
diplomat who follows women's issues.
The diplomat said the real question will be whether
the constitution provides safeguards to "protect
people who chose to be different".
Another Western official cautioned that the text of
the constitution changes almost daily, and that many
of the most extreme proposals are put out as part of
a negotiating strategy.
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