Dating lead to the Afghan women and girls in prison

A person authorized to enter into a juvenile detention center for women in Afghanistan was met with a stunning and sad story after another, according to Human Rights Watch.

Almost all girls imprisoned in Afghanistan are enclosed by "moral crimes", as about half of adult women, according to a new report by the international watchdog group.

The arrests are often based on two actions considered criminal behavior. One is to get away from home without the permission of her father or husband, and the other is called Zina, who is having sex with someone other than the husband.

"Very often you see women have been accused of two things, running away and Zina-and when you dig a little deeper and talk to women about what really happened, what you discover is that .. . most of these cases are women who have escaped abuse, "he told CNN the representative of Human Rights Watch in Afghanistan, Heather Barr.

"They fled because they were about to be forced to marry against their will, or have fled because they actually have been married and are victims of domestic abuse by her husband or in-laws," he added.

In 2011, CNN featured an example. A woman named Gulnaz was imprisoned and sentenced to 12 years in prison after reporting that she was raped by her cousin's husband. His daughter was the product of rape. The plight of Gulnaz attracted international attention and was released when President Hamid Karzai intervened.

However, some human rights activists say they will never be accepted in the community because of the way in which women are valued in some parts of Afghanistan.

"Women are spending the best years of their lives in prison, also their children," said CNN Shurkria Barakzai, a member of the National Assembly of Afghanistan.

"To be honest, have no future back to the community. Their husbands do not accept them back nor to their families or members of the community." Barakzai said it was disappointed with the Afghan judicial system on how it treats women.

"Our laws are fairly equal for men and women, but men have the means to pay bribes, leaving home, (or) ask others for help to overcome the situation," he said.

Barakzai is aware that though a woman in a position of power can not save a person from danger. Threats and intimidation have occurred against women in politics, mostly because they are women.

"I blame the judicial system, judges, and the whole system before anything else," he said. "The system simply does not support women, and even if they do, only so-called 'crimes' against women continues and falls back into what they were 10 years ago."

Human Rights Watch says there are 400 women currently imprisoned in Afghanistan for "moral crimes".