Afghan Firebrand Gets Burned

For almost three weeks, the young legislator has been on the run, unable to show her face, meet openly with journalists or disclose her location, for fear of reprisals. She spoke to IWPR by telephone.

An interview Joya gave to Tolo TV, in which she compared some of her colleagues to barnyard animals, riled lawmakers to such an extent that they voted to suspend her from parliament, although legal scholars say the decision has no basis in the law.

“A stable is better,” she said, in a video clip that was shown repeatedly in parliament on May 21. “At least there you have a donkey that can carry a load and a cow that gives milk.”

The remarks inflamed many members of parliament who already had a long and hostile relationship with Joya. She has often spoken out about the “warlords” who tore her country apart.

In May, 2006, she was pelted with water bottles and threatened with death after she called some of the mujahedin “criminals.”

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