Defend Malalai Joya!

“The USA is not concerned with the main cause behind terrorism in Afghanistan. That is why our people don't consider the US as "liberator" of our country. The US itself killed thousands of our innocent civilians during its so-called "war on terror" and continue to target civilians.

… my country is still in chains of bloody and terrorist fundamentalists. The situation in Afghanistan and conditions of its ill-fated women will never change positively as long as the warlords are not disarmed and both the pro-US and anti-US terrorists are removed from the political scene of Afghanistan.

I think that no nation can donate liberation to another nation. Liberation is not money to be donated; it should be achieved in a country by the people themselves. The ongoing developments in Afghanistan and Iraq prove this claim. People of other countries only can give us a helping hand and support.”

These were the words of the courageous anti-imperialist, anti-fundamentalist Malalai Joya, Member of the Afghan parliament, in Adelaide on March 13 2007.

Malalai was here as part of a world tour to expose the continuing oppression of Afghan women by the thugs and criminals helped into power by the US imperialists.

Now this brave fighter for the rights of her people has been thrown out of the Afghan parliament and has restricted freedom of movement.

Death threats, which she has endured before, continue to be made by her enemies.

Please read the full text of her Adelaide speech here.

Visit her website for further information.

Below is a proposed letter of protest to be sent to the Afghan authorities. Please use the text (amend it as you feel appropriate) and email it to the following addresses:

President Hamid Karzai
khaleeq.ahmad@gmail.com
president@afghanistangov.org

Supreme Court of Afghanistan
mailto:hidayatr@moj.gov.af
Feedback Form of the Supreme Court

Afghanistan's Parliament
hasib_n786@yahoo.com

Interior Ministry
moinews@gmail.com
mailto:wahed.moi@gmail.com+

Justice Ministry of Afghanistan
info@moj.gov.af
hidayatr@moj.gov.af

Defense Committee for Malaia Joya
webmaster@malalaijoya.com

---------------------------------------------

May 2007

Dear sir,

I was shocked and distressed when I heard that on 21st May 2007, after an interview on TV in which she once more exposed the war criminals that are present in the Parliament, Afghan MP Malalai Joya was suspended from the Parliament of Afghanistan and the Interior Ministry has been directed to restrict her movements within the country. I also learnt that the Parliament ordered the High Court to file a case against her.

Malalai Joya is known throughout the world for her indefatigable support of ordinary Afghan people against the actions of warlords, drug barons and criminals. She has repeatedly demanded that those responsible for the hundreds of thousands of deaths during the last 30 years be tried before an independent court.

I express my support for and solidarity with Ms. Malalai Joya, member of the Wolesi Jirga, ardent defender of human and women's rights and outstanding example of resistance of women against fundamentalism.

Since her famous speech of 2003, when she spoke at the Loya Jirga accusing many of the elected members of being war criminals, Malalai Joya has suffered four attempts on her life and many death threats and even physical aggression in Parliament. This is hardly the freedom of expression that Afghanistan claims to have established.

I urge you to do your best to cancel the resolution of the Parliament that expelled Malalai Joya from the assembly and do your best to guarantee her security, which is further compromised after the last events.

Yours sincerely,

………………………………………………

The Afghan masses are responding to Malalai Joya’s defence. The photo below shows a demonstration in Kabul yesterday (May 30, 2007).