Afghanistan's top diplomat in Ottawa says lawmakers in Kabul are reviewing legislation that critics say legalizes rape within a marriage.

While the legislation has already become law according to some reports, Ambassador Omar Samad told CTV's Power Play Thursday that Afghan legislators are still studying the document.

"The stage we are at right now is determining exactly what the status is of this law, meaning where in the Afghan (and) judicial pipeline it stands," he said.

Human rights groups and some Afghan politicians have said the 263-page legislative document would make it illegal for Shiite women to refuse sex from their husbands.

Some critics have interpreted the legislation as an attempt to secure political support from Afghanistan's minority Shiite population ahead of presidential elections.

The law has caused international outrage, with some human rights groups comparing it to the restrictive policies pursued by the Taliban government between 1996 and 2001.

"I can fully understand the reaction that Canadians have show and some others around the world have shown," said Samad, adding that Afghanistan is a "young, very fragile democracy."

The comments come after Samad met with leaders in Ottawa, who expressed "deep concern" about the new legislation.

However, there was still confusion surrounding the legislation's legal status in the war-torn country.

Afghan Lawmaker Safia Sidiqi said that she couldn't recall if the law was ever debated in the country's parliament.

"It is impossible in a two-month session for parliament to pass a law more than 200 pages long," she said, referring to the 263-page law.

Sidiqi also said that the law should be recalled for debate in parliament for debate.

This week, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon met with Afghan government ministers at The Hague, and Canadian officials discussed the issue with members of President Hamid Karzai's office in Kabul.

According to media reports, the law states that a woman "is bound to preen for her husband as and when he desires."

In another section, the law says that "as long as the husband is not travelling, he has the right to have sexual intercourse with his wife every fourth night."

More specifically, the rule mandates that "unless the wife is ill or has any kind of illness that intercourse could aggravate, the wife is bound to give a positive response to the sexual desires of her husband."

International response

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said the law represented a step backwards for Afghanistan's women and a "clear indication that the human rights situation in Afghanistan is getting worse, not better.

"For a new law in 2009 to target women in this way is extraordinary, reprehensible and reminiscent of the decrees made by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in the 1990s," the South African former war crimes judge said in a statement by her office issued in Geneva.

Journalist and activist Sally Armstrong, who has reported extensively on the state of women in Afghanistan, says Karzai is hoping to win the critical swing votes of conservative Shiite men with this law.

"It's a cheap piece of electioneering on the backs of the women and girls of the country, just so he can hang on to power," Armstrong told Canada AM. "This is a man who has spoken about the rights of women ... but he sold them out to get the extremist men vote."

Armstrong points out that even though only a small percentage of Shiite men would welcome the law, all women would be affected.

"They're selling this as just for Shia women, but that's nonsense. The content of Shia law is, it will affect every woman in the country," she said.

Armstrong says if the initial international reaction is any indication, the law will likely collapse.

"The good side of this is the huge outrage around the world. When the Taliban did this, everyone looked the other way -- and everyone knows that silence is akin to consent. This time, people are jumping all over it."

With files from The Associated Press