Afghan lower house suspends female representative

The Wolesi Jirga (People's Council) of the Afghan National Assembly voted on May 21 to suspend Malalai Joya, a representative from Farah Province in western Afghanistan, on charges of insulting the parliament, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reported. Wolesi Jirga speaker Mohammad Yunos Qanuni told the lower house that because of Joya's "irresponsible comments and insults to the National Assembly and government officials, by a vote of the majority of Wolesi Jirga, her membership will be suspended until the end of her current term" in 2010. According to a May 20 report broadcast on state-run Afghanistan National Television, Joya "ignored the principles of freedom of speech and parliamentary ethics" during an interview she gave to Kabul-based Tolo Television. In that interview, Joya reportedly said that the members of the Meshrano Jirga (Elders' Council) are "worse than donkeys and cows," adding that cows provide milk and donkeys carry loads, but some of the parliamentarians are like "dragons," AFP reported on May 21. Joya has been suspended under the vague internal rules of the National Assembly. AT

...WHO CALLS HER REMOVAL 'ILLEGAL'
Lawmaker Joya called her suspension by the Wolesi Jirga "a completely illegal act," Tolo reported. Speaking at a news conference in Kabul on May 21, Joya added that she came to the Wolesi Jirga "through the people's votes," and claimed to have the support not only of her constituency in Farah Province, but "of people throughout Afghanistan." She vowed to continue her "struggle." Joya gained international attention when she criticized the participation of former mujahedin leaders in the Constitutional Loya Jirga in 2003, and was later expelled from the forum. After her election to the Wolesi Jirga in 2005, Joya offered her condolences to the Afghan people for the presence of "warlords, drug lords, and criminals" in the parliament. In 2006, Joya was verbally attacked and threatened by some of her colleagues inside the lower house's assembly hall, while some members threw empty water bottles at her (see "RFE/RL Newsline," December 18, 2003; December 20, 2005; and May 9, 2006). AT