VZCZCXRO3473
OO RUEHDBU RUEHPW RUEHSL
DE RUEHBUL #2365/01 2271407
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 151407Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0833
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 002365 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL AF
SUBJECT: SHIA PERSONAL STATUS LAW: GAZETTED AS AMENDED 
 
REF: A. KABUL 1860 
     ¶B. KABUL 2106 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  SUMMARY: The Shia Personal Status Law (SPSL) was 
published in the official gazette on July 27, after having 
been signed into force by presidential decree on July 19 by 
President Karzai along with the Elimination of Violence 
Against Women Law (EVAW).  The published version of the SPSL 
includes the amendments the Embassy had translated and 
analyzed in early July, and does not appear to include any 
additional changes.  The reaction from civil society has not 
changed since July 13 (ref. A). The majority of Afghan civil 
society representatives maintain that the published version 
of the SPSL is the best possible version of the law at this 
time.  According to Hazara leaders in Bamyan, Shias are 
showing their approval of the law by supporting Karzai in the 
presidential elections.  We continue to monitor progress of 
the EVAW law, which most of our Afghan interlocutors support. 
 END SUMMARY. 
 
------------------------------ 
SPSL: Signed, Sealed, Gazetted 
------------------------------ 
 
¶2.  (SBU) President Karzai signed the SPSL and EVAW on July 
19 in the presence of the Minister of Justice, the Minister 
of Women's Affairs, Member of Parliament Shinkai Karokhel, 
and Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission Chair Sima 
Samar and Commissioner Soraya Sobrangh.  Karokhel told 
President Karzai that the SPSL was still problematic and 
needed further revisions.  President Karzai suggested he 
could hold off signing the law for a few days, and said he 
was considering asking the Ulema Council for their input on 
the law before signing.  Samar then reportedly told President 
Karzai that consulting the Ulema Council was a bad idea, and 
pressed him to sign the law that afternoon. (Comment: Some 
interlocutors have expressed concern to us that further 
review of the SPSL could draw increased criticism from 
conservatives, and possibly lead to the reversal of some of 
the amendments.  Samar pushed for Karzai's signature on July 
19 for fear of otherwise losing ground on the progress civil 
society has made with the SPSL). 
 
¶3. (SBU) On August 13, we obtained a copy of the July 27 
official gazette with the published SPSL.  The Afghan 
government, in particular the Ministry of Justice, appears to 
have purposefully kept a low profile on the publication of 
the law.  UNAMA's human rights specialists and the Afghan 
Independent Human Rights Commission have compared the 
published version of the SPSL with the final version (which 
the Embassy translated and transmitted to State in early 
July) and found no differences. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Neither the SPSL nor the EVAW law as signed by 
Karzai has been reviewed by Parliament.  According to Article 
79 of the Afghan Constitution, Parliament should review laws 
signed by Presidential decree within "30 days of convening 
its first session," although it remains unclear how 
Parliament calculates this 30-day period.  Member of 
Parliament Sabrina Saqeb told us August 15 she does not think 
Parliament will review the revised SPSL, while Speaker of 
Parliament Qanooni told us in late July that he intended to 
allow the July 19 SPSL presidential decree to go through 
Parliament without changes (Ref B). 
 
------------------------- 
SPSL: Good Enough for Now 
------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Key civil society representatives have reiterated to 
us that the SPSL was greatly improved from the original 
version, but still contains some problematic articles (Ref. 
A).  AIHRC Chair Sima Samar told the Deputy Ambassador on 
August 15 that no further improvements could be accomplished 
at this time.  MP Sabrina Saqib noted "there is still room 
for improvement" in the SPSL, but said the changes in the law 
are a "positive step for women's rights" in Afghanistan.  She 
was also skeptical of authorities' ability to implement all 
articles of the law anyway.  Global Rights Director Wazhma 
Frogh agreed that despite insufficiencies in the law, civil 
society had made good strides with the changes that President 
Karzai and the MOJ made to the law. 
 
------------------------ 
Attracting the Shia Vote 
------------------------ 
 
¶6. (SBU) A female Bamyan Provincial Council member told us in 
a meeting with visiting Embassy officials that the Shia 
Hazaras would overwhelmingly support President Karzai in the 
August 20 elections because he "recognized the importance of 
the Shias" with the SPSL.  The Bamyan Director of Women's 
 
KABUL 00002365  002 OF 002 
 
 
Affairs concurred, but added that they supported the changes 
Karzai made to the most controversial elements of the law. 
Bamyan Ulema Shura leader Baba Musini told us Karzai had 
"raised the importance of the historically disenfranchised 
Shia Hazara" with the SPSL, noting that he told his followers 
to support Karzai due to this reason, and for his 
accomplishments in bringing peace to the Hazarajaat by ending 
ethnic violence there.  (Note: the Shia Hazaras comprise 
about 80% of the population in Bamyan, and historically the 
Hazara vote is one of the strongest, most cohesive voting 
blocs; the total Hazara vote represents about 10-13% of the 
total vote in Afghanistan. End Note.) 
 
-------------------------------- 
EVAW: What a Good Law Looks Like 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Civil society and the Afghan government contacts 
have expressed satisfaction with the EVAW law.  Deputy 
Minister of Women's Affairs Mojgan Mostafavi said that the 
law was "good and protects women's rights".  AIHRC 
Commissioner for Women's Issues Soraya Sobrangh agreed that 
the EVAW was "unequivocally" good.  MP Saqib said she would 
like Parliament to review the law, as it would give women MPs 
a good opportunity to discuss and debate an important law. 
She and others said the law would likely remain intact.  Some 
interlocutors tell us that as a criminal law, the EVAW law 
carries more weight than the SPSL, which is a civil law of 
limited scope, as it pertains to a small subset of the 
population.  According to Afzal Nooristani, Executive 
Director of the Legal Aid Organization of Afghanistan, the 
EVAW law will serve to protect women's rights and allow for 
the criminal prosecution of people violating women's 
religious and legal rights. We continue to track progress of 
the EVAW law, which some Afghan civil society contacts expect 
will be sent to Parliament soon. 
 
----------------- 
SPSL in the Press 
----------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) As of August 15 the Afghan press had not reported on 
the publication of the SPSL. It is possible the Afghan media 
could pick up on the international media reaction in the 
coming days, but the Presidential elections may overshadow 
the issue.  Based on civil society's tempered reaction to the 
revised SPSL here, it unlikely the Afghan media will have the 
same coverage of the law that the Human Rights Watch press 
release (which did not quote any Afghan sources) sparked in 
the United States and the United Kingdom. 
EIKENBERRY