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Law will let Afghan husbands starve wives who withhold sex
An Afghan law which legalized rape has been sent back to parliament with a clause letting husbands starve their wives if they refuse to have sex.
President Hamid Karzai ordered a review of the legislation after The Independent revealed that it negated the need for consent within marriage.
The amendments were passed to the cabinet this week and signed by Karzai on Wednesday, Human Rights Watch said last night.
According to civil society groups, the law, which regulates the personal affairs of Afghanistan's minority Shia community, still includes clauses which allow rapists to marry their victims as a way of absolving their crime and it tacitly approves child marriage.