Fazal Hadi Shinwari | |
|---|---|
 Shinwari in December 2004 | |
| Chief Justice of Afghanistan | |
| In office 8 January 2002 – 5 August 2006 | |
| President | Hamid Karzai |
| Succeeded by | Abdul Salam Azimi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1927 (1927) |
| Died | 21 February 2011(2011-02-21) (aged 83–84) India |
| Political party | Islamic Dawah Organisation of Afghanistan |
| Occupation | Islamic cleric |
| Known for | Chief JusticeSupreme Court of Afghanistan, 2002–2006 |
Fazal Hadi Shinwari (1927 – February 21, 2011) was an Afghan cleric who served as theChief Justice of theSupreme Court of Afghanistan from 2002 until 2006. He was appointed to the post byAfghan PresidentHamid Karzai in 8 January 2002[2] in accordance with theAfghan Constitution approved after the 2001 overthrow of theTaliban government. An ethnicPashtun fromJalalabad,Afghanistan,[3][4][5] he was a member of theIttehad-al-Islami party.[6] Shinwari died in February 2011 from astroke.[1]
Shinwari was born in the Haska Mina village ofShinwar inNangarhar Province, Afghanistan. He completed Islamic studies inKabul and became a teacher atIbn-i-Sina High School in 1954. A few years later he moved to Nangarhar and in 1974 he migrated to neighboringPakistan.[1] In 2002, Shinwari was appointed Chief Justice byAfghan PresidentHamid Karzai.
In 2003 Shinwari spoke out against co-education—the education of boys and girls in shared facilities—while clarifying that he did not object to the education of girls and women in principle, just not in facilities shared with men and boys.[7]Shinwari also led the Supreme Court's efforts to bancable TV.[5]
According toEurasianet, Shinwari was responsible for reinstating the ministry formerly known as the "Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice".[5]
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On December 8, 2004Shinwari administered the oath of office toHamid Karzai when he was electedPresident of Afghanistan.[8]
Shinwari addressed the 17Afghans who had been held in Guantanamo whoseCombatant Status Review Tribunals determined they had never been "enemy combatants" after all.[3][4]Their Tribunals had been held between August 2, 2004 and late January 2005.Carlotta Gall ofThe New York Times reported that the Chief Justice encouraged the men to regard their detention as something sent from God.The reports stated that the Chief Justice warned the cleared men that a candid description of their detention could damage the chances of other Afghan captives to be released.
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Shinwari is also reported to have distinguished between three categories of Guantanamo captives:[3][4]
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In 2006, President Karzai re-nominated Shinwari to the position of Chief Justice, despite constitutional concerns regarding his degree only inIslamic law.[6]However, theparliament rejected the nomination. Shinwari served as Chief Justice until a new candidate,Abdul Salam Azimi, was approved by parliament.
By Western standards, he was widely considered to be a very conservativeIslamist, and in his short term as chief justice some of the court's rulings included:
According to theInternational Crisis Group Shinwari appointed 128 judges, in addition to the original nine, and that of the credentials of 36 judges they were able to examine, none of the new judges had a degree in secular law:[6]
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During Ramadan, 2008, there were rumors that SaudiKing Abdullah was attempting to broker peace talks between the warring parties from Afghanistan.[11] Former Taliban Foreign MinisterWakil Ahmad Mutawakil former Taliban Ambassador to PakistanAbdul Salem Zaeef and Shinwari were among leading Afghan figures who met with King Abdullah.
Zaeef acknowledged being invited by King Abdullah to dine with other leading Afghan figures, from the Karzai government, the Taliban,Gulbuddin Hekmatyar'sHezb-e-Islami and other former members of the Taliban.[11]Zaeef denied this meeting should be characterized as "peace talks". He stated that none of the individuals at this meeting had been authorized to conduct negotiations. Zaeef denied anyone discussed Afghanistan at this meeting.
Pentagon spokesmanMaj.Michael Shavers said the 17 Afghans and theTurkish man had been cleared of accusations they were enemy combatants during the Combatant Status Review Tribunal process that recently ended. Five others cleared in late March already had been sent home and another 15 await transfers home.
In a brief ceremony, Chief Justice Fazil Hadi Shinwari told the 17 men that they were free to return home and he tried to reconcile them to the idea their imprisonment was something sent from God. Some prisoners in Guantánamo were guilty and deserved to be imprisoned, he said, but others were innocent victims of false accusations or military mistakes, or were duped into supporting terrorism.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)A ban on cable TV, reinstated on November 12, illustrates the stakes involved. The original ban, first imposed by the Supreme Court in January 2003, was revoked in April 2003 after a government commission investigated claims of obscenity filed in Kabul and the eastern city of Jalalabad, the hometown of Chief Justice Fazl Hadi Shinwari. Although execution of the ban was eventually eased, restrictions on most western and Indian television shows remain firmly in place.
The ICG [International Crisis Group] says rebuilding the justice system needs to be raised higher on Afghanistan's political agenda. It also is recommending the retirement of the current Afghan Supreme Court chief, Mawlavi Fazl Hadi Shinwari, on grounds that he does not meet the legal requirements on age and education.
I want education for women," he said, "but we want men and women not to sit together.
After the Afghan national anthem reverberated around a restored hall of the war-damaged former royal palace, Karzai repeated the oath of allegiance read to him by Afghanistan's white-bearded chief justice, Fazl Hadi Shinwari.
