Asif Mohseni

Ayatollah Muhammad Asif Mohseni (Persian: آیت‌الله العظمی محمد آصف محسنی‎‎) (Sheik Mohseni) (born 1936) is widely considered to be the most powerful Twelver shiite cleric in Afghanistan. He is the founder of the Islamic Movement of Afghanistan (Harakat-I Islami-yi Afghanistan). With strong links to Iran, he is a Shia Muslim ethnic Pashtun. He was born in Kandahar.

He studied in Najaf, Iraq and became an Ayatollah.

In 2009 Mohseni drafted a family law code for Afghanistan's minority Shia population. The Shia Family Law legislation was signed into law by President Hamid Karzai in March 2009 after intense pressure from Shia clerics including Mohseni and some leaders of the Hazara community. It gives Shiite men in Afghanistan wide-ranging powers over their wives, who under the law have the right to starve their wives if their sexual demands are not met. Shiite women must obtain permission from their husbands to leave their houses, “except in extreme circumstances.” The law also grants guardianship of children exclusively to their fathers and grandfathers.

The passing of the law brought international outrage and was condemned by world leaders including US President Barack Obama. A report by the United Nations Development Fund for Women, UNIFEM, warned: "Article 132 legalises the rape of a wife by her husband".

On 15 April 2009, between 200-300 Afghan women protested against the law outside Mohseni's mosque and seminary. They were met by hundreds of his enraged supporters who shouted abuse and, according to many of the demonstrators, threw stones at the women. The night before the demonstration, a television station owned by Mohseni repeatedly broadcast a message advising people to prevent family members attending the protest.

Mohseni owns Tamadon TV Network, a television station very similar in visual style and religious content to Iranian state-run television channels.

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Wikipedia