Dec.17, 2003, Loya Jirga in Kabul
When her time came to make her 3-minute statement, she tugged her black headscarf over her hair, stepped up to the microphone, and with emotional electricity made the speech that would alter her life.
After she spoke, there was a moment of stunned silence. Then there was an uproar. Male mujahideen, some who literally had guns at their feet, rushed towards her, shouting. She was brought under the protection of UN security forces.
In a nation where few dare to say the word "warlord" aloud, Joya had spoken fiercely against a proposal to appoint high clergy members and fundamentalist leaders to guide planning groups. She objected that several of those religious leaders were war criminals who should be tried for their actions—not national heroes to influence the new government.
Today, as a result of her legendary actions, Malalai Joya has become popular hero in Afghanistan. She speaks at rallies where thousands of people carry her photo high.
See the YouTube video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9La2DIFD2m0-------------------------------------------
Prominent Afghan Women’s Rights and Anti-War Activist Denied Entry to US
By Shahrzad Noorbaloochi
Epoch Times Staff
March 20, 2011
Time magazine has named her one of the hundred most influential individuals of 2010. The Guardian has named her one of the strongest women activists of our time. In Afghanistan’s Parliament, however, she is named a prostitute.
But last week, author Malalai Joya, who was due on a three-week international tour to promote her recently published book “A Woman Among Warlords,” was denied a visa to the United States on the grounds that she was “unemployed and living underground.”
Joya, an author who is forced to wear a burka in Afghanistan to protect herself from those after her life, however, believes there were other reasons for the denial of her entry into the United States.
“I believe there is a political motive behind it as I have always criticized the U.S.,” said Joya in an e-mail to The Epoch Times on Friday. Joya added that she was scheduled to give a joint presentation with leftist author Noam Chomsky, who is also critical of U.S. war policies.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/united-states/prominent-afghan-womens-rights-and-anti-war-activist-denied-entry-to-us-53280.html-------------------------------------------
Members of Congress urge administration to reconsider their refusal to grant a visa. BBI
"Since the U.S. Embassy’s decision to deny Joya a visa, members of Congress have taken up her case and are lobbying for a reversal of the State Department’s move.
Congressman Mike Capuano, a Massachusetts Democrat, has submitted a letter to the U..S. Embassy urging it to reconsider the decision. Additionally, Congressman Jim McDermott, a Washington Democrat, is asking other members of Congress to join him in signing a letter that will also be sent to the US Embassy in Islamabad, an effort that has received support from Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, among others."
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/3/19/joya-visa-decision-harvard-chomsky/#