Iraqi women protest proposed changes to family laws

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1514&ncid=1514&e=10&u=/afp/20040113/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_us_women_law_040113202530

BAGHDAD (AFP) - About 100 Iraqi women led by a minister protested in central Baghdad against a Governing Council proposal to scrap the secular family affairs code and place it under Muslim religious jurisdiction. snip

Zakia Khalifa, an activist, said the new law would "take away women's rights."

"Even Saddam Hussein's family laws are better than this one," she said.

Iraq's 1959 civil code governing family affairs was considered the most progressive in the Middle East, making polygamy difficult and guaranteeing women's custody rights in the case of divorce.

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[burrowowl]

1. Well too bad they

don't go back to their constitution before SH took over aided by the CIA.
But, Bu$hco wouldn't allow that.
Women getting assaulted again.

[IndianaGreen]

2. Iraqi women have already lost the many rights they had under Baathists

They can thank the Americans for the veils they will be forced to wear, and the jobs and education that will be denied to them.

BTW, women in Afghanistan are still wearing burqas, and is not by choice!

I wish I had been born a Canadian!

[truthspeaker]

3. more "liberation"

[David__77]

4. Evil fundamentalism...

In relative terms, women were better off under Baathism from a perspective of formal legal rights. Likewise, Afghani women were better off in this respect under the old PDPA and Soviet occupation. Now, in both countries "liberated" by US guns, women are forced indoors and under veil.