WORLD BRIEFING / AFGHANISTAN

A key backer of an Afghan law that critics say legalizes marital rape and rolls back women’s rights rejected the international outcry over the measure as foreign meddling.

The law, passed last month, says a Shiite man can demand sex with his wife every four days unless she is ill or would be harmed by intercourse, and regulates when a wife may leave her home alone.

Mohammad Asif Mohseni, a top cleric, and one of the law’s main drafters, told reporters: “The Westerners claim that they have brought democracy to Afghanistan. They should let the people use these democratic rights.”