Sold, raped and jailed, a girl faces Afghan justice

Nice justice system Afghanistan has .

Reading about situations like this girl is in , Makes a Good case For beating the Crap out of Islamic Radicals around the world !
I think These Judges that rule the way they do need to be imprisoned and raped while in there ,

Oh Sorry I forgot , They like that kind of thing !


(Reuters) - For the shy Afghan girl who sat quietly in a detention center with a pale blue headscarf, teenage rebellion had come at a heavy price: seven years in prison.

Engaged to an older man who had offered $5,000 to her father but in love with a boy she spoke to on the phone, the 16-year-old girl was hauled before a court that found her guilty of running away from home, according to an account she provided.

"I was engaged to an older man and I was not happy. He was painting his beard black," said the girl, who cannot be named because of rules protecting juvenile detainees.

Now pregnant, she said she did not know who the baby's father was, adding she had slept with both the boy she was in love with and the man she was engaged to. She also said she had been raped while in detention before being sent to the Kabul facility. The girl's story offers a glimpse into the nature of Afghanistan's rudimentary justice system, underscoring the uphill task ahead as U.S. President Barack Obama calls for improving the rule of law to match military gains in the country.

Obama has ordered an extra 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan to beat back a resurgent Taliban, but officials also recognize progress on civilian issues like corruption, governance and justice will be essential to bringing stability to the country.

"I've seen travesties in court," said Kimberly Motley, a U.S. lawyer who interviewed 348 detainees, judges and others for a report on the juvenile justice system and also represents the pregnant Afghan girl in an effort to win her freedom.

"I've seen kids not even being brought into court for their hearing. Cases without any witnesses. And more times, no evidence than any evidence. And the verdict is always guilty."

Young girls usually fare the worst within the system, she said. In a deeply conservative Muslim society where women were banned from education during Taliban rule, anything from trying to escape a forced marriage to walking down the street with a boy who is not a relative can land them in jail.

NO-WIN SITUATION

About half the young girls locked up in Afghan detention centres are charged with "moral crimes" like running away from home and adultery, Motley said. At times, runaways are booked on the surreal charge of "kidnapping" themselves, she said.

Though Afghan law does not specifically cite moral crimes like running away as illegal, judges often use Article 130 that allows courts to "rule in a way that attains justice in the best manner" when faced with a case where other laws do not apply.