Malalai Joya
| Malalai Joya | |
|---|---|
| ملالی جویا | |
Joya speaking in Australia, March 2007
|
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| Member of the House of the People of Afghanistan | |
|
Assumed office 1 December 2003 |
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| Constituency | Farah Province |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
25 April 1978 Farah Province, Afghanistan |
| Residence | Kabul |
| Occupation | Political activist |
| Known for | Criticism of the Afghan government and the presence of US-NATO forces in Afghanistan. |
Malalai Joya (Pashto ملالۍ جویا) (born April 25, 1978) 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".
Joya was born on April 25, 1978, in the Farah Province, in western Afghanistan. Her father was a former medical student who lost a leg while fighting in the Soviet war in Afghanistan. In 1982, when she was 4 years old, her family fled Afghanistan to live as refugees in neighboring Iran. She got involved in humanitarian work while in eighth grade.
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