Afghan activist Malaiai JoyaAfghanistan human rights activist Malalai Joya was in London recently, to promote her new book “Raising My Voice” and to argue against more Nato troops in Afghanistan.

A year ago Joya received the Anna Politkovskaya Award, created to honor the Russian journalist gunned down in 2006 outside her Moscow apartment. The first recipient Natalya Estimerova, was murdered this month in the Chechen capital.

Handing the trophy to Malaiai Joya in 2008, Estimerova said: “Malalai, be brave.”

Independent UK writer Glyn Strong, suggests in his profile of Joya, that the tropy may bring with it a curse. To date, she has survived five assasination attempts.

Somewhat of a sensation in her country, Malalai Joya was elected to the Afghan National Assembly at 25. Outspoken in her views, Strong writes that she’s not embraced by either Prime Minister Brown or President Obama. In fact, Joy was suspended from Parliament for allegedly insulting other MPs.

One of the most widely-cited advantages of Nato’s intervention has been improved conditions for Afghan women. Ms Joya disagrees. “Just as the US air strikes have not brought security to Afghans, nor has the occupation brought security to Afghan women. The reality is quite the opposite. The now infamous ‘Family Law’ is but the tip of the iceberg of the women’s rights catastrophe in our occupied country. The whole system, and especially the judiciary, is infected with the virus of fundamentalism and so, in Afghanistan, men who commit crimes against women do so with impunity.”

It’s relevant to understand that for this woman — Malalai Joya — life was better under the Taliban, than under the NATO occupation. Make no mistake. Malalai Joya is no fan of the Taliban.

This Afghan fighter for human rights calls a burqa, a “shroud for the living”. To hide her identity, Joya travels under a burqa, living like a fugitive.

In her book “Raising My Voice”, Malalai Joya acknowledges that her early death is very possible.

Even during the dark days of the Taliban, I could at least go outside under the burqa to teach girls in secret. But today I don’t feel safe under it, even with armed guards to escort me. My visitors are searched for weapons and even the flowers at my wedding had to be checked for bombs… I know that because I refuse to compromise my opposition to the warlords and fundamentalists… then I may join… the long list of Afghans who have died for freedom. But you cannot compromise the truth. And I am not afraid of an early death if it advances the course of justice.”

Read entire Independent UK article: Afghanistan’s bravest woman brings her message to UK.