page_title: Malalai Joya
section_title: Parliament statements, attack and suspension
hierarchical_section_title: Malalai Joya / Parliament statements, attack and suspension
caption_attribution_description: English: Regional Councilor Bruna Giovannini, on behalf of the Regional Council of Tuscany gives Malalai Joya the prestigious Gold Medal.
context_page_description: Malalai Joya is an activist, writer, and a former politician from Afghanistan. She served as a Parliamentarian in the National Assembly of Afghanistan from 2005 until early 2007, after being dismissed for publicly denouncing the presence of warlords and war criminals in the Afghan Parliament. She is an outspoken critic of the Karzai administration and its western supporters, particularly the United States.
  Her suspension in May 2007 has generated protest internationally and appeals for her reinstatement have been signed by high-profile writers, intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky, and politicians including Members of Parliament from Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain. She was called "the bravest woman in Afghanistan" by the BBC.
  In 2010, Time magazine placed Malalai Joya on their annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Foreign Policy Magazine listed Malalai Joya in its annual list of the Top 100 Global Thinkers. On March 8, 2011, The Guardian listed her among "Top 100 women: activists and campaigners".
context_section_description: On May 7, 2006, Malalai Joya was physically and verbally attacked by fellow members of parliament after accusing several colleagues of being "warlords" and unfit for service in the new Afghan government.
  "I said there are two kinds of mujahedeen in Afghanistan," Joya told the Associated Press. "One kind fought for independence, which I respect, but the other kind destroyed the country and killed 60,000 people." In response, angered lawmakers shouted death threats and threw empty plastic water bottles at Joya, who was shielded by sympathetic colleagues.
  In response to such threats, Joya continues to speak out against those she believes to be former mujahedeen in Afghanistan, stating:
  "Never again will I whisper in the shadows of intimidation. I am but a symbol of my people's struggle and a servant to their cause. And if I were to be killed for what I believe in, then let my blood be the beacon for emancipation and my words a revolutionary paradigm for generations to come."
  On May 21, 2007, fellow members of the Wolesi Jirga voted to suspend Malalai Joya for three years from the legislature, citing that she had broken Article 70 of the Parliament, which had banned Wolesi Jirga members from openly criticizing each other. Joya had compared the Wolesi Jirga to a "stable or zoo" on a recent TV interview, and later called other members of parliament "criminals" and "drug smugglers." She is reported to have referred to the House as "worse than a stable", since "(a) stable is better, for there you have a donkey that carries a load and a cow that provides the milk."
  Joya said the vote was a "political conspiracy" and that she had been told Article 70 was written specifically for her saying "since I've started my struggle for human rights in Afghanistan, for women's rights, these criminals, these drug smugglers, they've stood against me from the first time I raised my voice at the Loya Jirga."
  In a statement Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, wrote: "Malalai Joya is a staunch defender of human rights and a powerful voice for Afghan women, and she shouldn't have been suspended from parliament."
  People in Farah, Nangarhar, Baghlan, Kabul and some other provinces of Afghanistan staged protests against Joya's suspension.
  On June 21, 2007, one month after Joya was suspended, Joya supporters in Melbourne staged protests to the Afghan government to reinstate Joya to the parliament. In November 2007, an international letter was launched with a number of prominent signatories supporting the call for her reinstatement to parliament.
  In January 2008, after her suspension, Joya spoke to Rachel Shields and said that the government was not democratically elected and they were "trying to use the country's Islamic law as a tool with which to limit women's rights."
  On April 18, 2008, the Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, unanimously adopted a resolution at its 182nd session in Cape Town in favour of Malalai Joya which "Calls on the authorities at the same time to do everything in their power to identify and bring to justice those making the death threats against Ms. Joya."
  On October 7, 2008, six women Nobel Peace Prize laureates (Shirin Ebadi, Jody Williams, Wangari Maathai, Rigoberta Menchú, Betty Williams and Mairead Maguire) in a joint statement supported Malalai Joya: "We commend this courage, and call for Joya's reinstatement to Afghanistan's national parliament… Like our sister Aung San Suu Kyi, Joya is a model for women everywhere seeking to make the world more just."
  During her suspension, Malalai Joya stayed active by giving interviews to western journalists and by writing articles for western newspapers on her views on the situation of Afghanistan.  In 2009 she made a tour through the United States and Canada to advocate her cause and to promote her book.
  Shukria Barakzai, a fellow MP and women's rights activist, has also criticised the legislature in similar terms: "Our parliament is a collection of lords. Warlords, drug lords, crime lords." She defended Malalai Joya, reporting that some parliamentarians 
caption: October 21, 2008 - Florence: Regional Councilor Bruna Giovannini, on behalf of the Regional Council of Tuscany gives Malalai Joya a prestigious Gold Medal.[48]
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