Posted on 10/30/2003 4:07:32 PM PST by UnklGene
Court condemns pageant entrant -
From a correspondent in Kabul - 30 Oct 2003
A WOMAN competing in a beauty pageant as Miss Afghanistan has been criticised by that nation's Supreme Court for acting against Islamic law and Afghan culture.
Vida Samadzai last week paraded down a catwalk in a red bikini during a public appearance at the Miss Earth competition in the Philippines. The 23-year-old is the first Afghan to participate in the annual contest, which is scheduled to announce a winner on November 9.
Samadzai reportedly left her home country for the United States in the mid-1990s.
She has said she is competing in the pageant to show the world a different image of Afghan women - many of whom still wear all-covering burka robes here despite the fall of the hard-line Taliban regime nearly two years ago.
But at a meeting of the Afghan high court shown today on state TV, judges condemned Samadzai's appearance.
"Women who show their bodies without clothes in front of people are completely against Shariah (Islamic) law, against Islam and against the culture of the Afghan people," the court said, according to the report.
The court said it had made the statement - the first public condemnation of Samadzai by Afghan officials - after repeated media inquiries about her appearance.
Samadzai's participation in the contest hasn't been publicised in Afghanistan, where most of the impoverished population lacks access to outside media.
Not bad!
Miss Afghanistan Well this confirms two things:
The crown is safe and we know why they wear burka's.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.