STRASBOURG, France, April 4 (Reuters) - Britain voiced concern on Saturday over a new law for Afghanistan's Shi'ite minority and its impact on women's rights. Shi'ite Muslims account for some 15 percent of mainly Sunni Muslim Afghanistan and the Shi'ite Personal Status Law has been attacked for diminishing women's rights. "It is going to be raised (with Kabul) at the very highest level, I can assure you of that," British Defence Secretary John Hutton told BBC radio from the French city of Strasbourg, where he was attending a NATO summit. "The government of Afghanistan must abide by international agreements that it has entered into willingly." The United States, NATO, Canada and the United Nations have spoken out against the law, saying it legalises marital rape. Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Saturday such criticisms were based on a wrong translation or misinterpretation of the law, which has not yet come into force. He said a copy of the law he had seen did not reflect the criticisms and concerns of Afghanistan's Western backers. NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told the BBC on Friday the law might make it harder for member states to send more troops to battle Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. "We are there to defend universal values and when I see ... a law threatening to come into effect which fundamentally violates women's rights and human rights, that worries me," he said, adding that he had discussed the issue with Karzai. (Additional reporting by Avril Ormsby and Golnar Motevalli; Editing by Timothy Heritage)
A protester holding a banner which reads, "We believe in peace" takes part in an anti-war rally denouncing the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, and South Korean government's possible dispatch ...
