Afghanistan loses female minister in row over sharia law

A former women's affairs minister in Afghanistan fears for her safety because she is opposed by the country's powerful religious establishment.

Sima Samar's opponents, some of them allied with the President, Hamid Karzai, have even branded her the Afghan Salman Rushdie – raising chilling memories of the fatwa that haunted the Indian-born writer for more than a decade. "I don't want to leave," Ms Samar. "But I think I need protection."

Mr Karzai swore in his new cabinet yesterday but he was unable to find someone for the women's affairs portfolio after Ms Samar opted for a lower-profile job.

Since her appointment in December to the interim administration, Ms Samar, a member of the Hazara minority, has become one of the most visible women in the country and has travelled abroad to promote the interests of Afghan women. Back home, however, she has been threatened. Men in police uniforms have pounded on the gates of her home at night, telling her to leave.

An Afghan newspaper owned by the Jamiat-e-Islami party published this month what it said was an interview she gave to a Persian-language magazine in Canada in which she allegedly said: "I don't believe in sharia [Islamic law]."

Ms Samar denied saying this but the report was circulated among loya jirga delegates meeting to choose a new government. The chief justice, Abdul Hadi Shinwari, said her reported words were "against the Islamic nation of Afghanistan". Yesterday, however, the Supreme Court threw out a blasphemy charge against her.

Fazel Ahmad Manawi, the deputy chief justice, said "many people" had complained about her but the case had been dropped for lack of evidence.