Afghan woman may face charges over pageant
Fazel Ahmad Manawi, deputy head of Afghanistan's Supreme Court, said Vida Samadzai, a college student in California, had betrayed Afghan culture by appearing at the Miss Earth contest in a bikini and may have also broken the law.
"I hope that this lady regrets her actions," Mr Manawi said. He added that Afghan prosecutors may open an investigation, but refused to say what charges Ms Samadzai may face.
Regardless of any legal action, Ms Samadzai's parading down a catwalk in a red bikini during the contest's qualification last month was a radical departure from the traditional image of Afghan women.
She competed in the contest's final round, held yesterday in the Philippine capital, Manila.
Ms Samadzai has said she entered the contest to raise awareness of the plight of women in the homeland she left eight years ago for the United States.
She also said she felt uncomfortable appearing in such a skimpy costume, but added that wearing a bikini was a contest requirement.
Afghan law is based on Islamic principles but stops short of the extremist interpretation of Islamic law, known as Shariah, which was applied by the former Taliban regime.
Despite the fall of the Taliban two years ago, many Afghan women still wear the all-covering burqa robes that became an international symbol of the regime's hardline policies. Women who avoid the burqa respect tradition by covering their hair with a scarf.
Ms Samadzai's wearing of the bikini led to criticism from the Supreme Court, which said such a display of the female body was un-Islamic.
And in line with that judgment, Muslim contestants in beauty pageants over the years have been relatively rare.
Four Muslims entered last year's Miss Universe contest in San Juan, Puerto Rico. They represented Turkey, which officially is a secular nation; Egypt, which has a constitution stipulating that Islam is the main source of law; as well as Singapore and Trinidad and Tobago, which have Muslim minorities.
In 1972, Afghanistan held its first and only pageant giving Zohra Daoud the title of Miss Afghanistan. Ms Daoud fled to the United States after the Soviet invasion in 1979, and now lives in Malibu, California, where she raises funds for humanitarian efforts.
Ms Samadzai, who studies at California State University, Fullerton, left Afghanistan in 1996.
She said she was "appointed" as a contestant by people aware of her work as a volunteer fundraiser.
Her participation in the Miss Earth pageant has received little publicity in Afghanistan, where most of the population lacks access to outside media.
