Surge in jailed Afghan women: HRW THE number of women and girls imprisoned for "moral crimes" in Afghanistan has risen at an "alarming rate" in the past 18 months, Human Rights Watch says. Interior Ministry figures showed there were 600 women and girls imprisoned for "moral crimes" this month, 50 per cent more than the number in October 2011. The group said the women were often only trying to escape domestic or sexual abuse, and the government should take urgent steps to "prosecute abusers, not women fleeing the abuse." Commitments by senior government officials to end such abuses have had little practical impact, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday. "Four years after the adoption of a law on violence against women and 12 years after Taliban rule, women are still imprisoned for being victims of forced marriage, domestic violence and rape," the group's Asia director Brad Adam said. It said last year that 95 per cent of girls and 50 per cent of women imprisoned in Afghanistan were accused of running away from home, or adultery. In many cases, the women and girls were fleeing underage or forced marriages, domestic violence and abuse including beatings, stabbings, burnings, rapes, forced prostitution, kidnapping, and threats of "honour killing," the report said. "Virtually none of the cases had led even to an investigation of the abuse, let alone prosecution or punishment," it said. Fleeing home is not a crime under the Afghan criminal code, but the Supreme Court has instructed judges to treat women and girls who flee as criminals, Human Rights Watch alleged. Adultery or sex outside of marriage does constitute crime according to Afghan law, and is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Women are also punished for non-consensual extramarital sex, the report said. "Some women and girls have been convicted of zina (adultery) after being raped or forced into prostitution," it said. The group also said women and girls accused of moral crimes are routinely subjected to "virginity tests" for use in court. "Use of such tests constitutes cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment under international law," the group said. The government has made "some progress" in addressing wrongful imprisonment, but there remained too few female police officers and the number of shelters for those running from violence was "nowhere near adequate," it said. The report came shortly after the parliament suspended debate about cementing the 2009 decree targeting violence against women into a full law, after conservative MPs and religious leaders pushed to amend the legislation, saying it violated Islamic rules. Human Rights Watch has criticised the influence of those conservative elements, and expressed concern that the debate "risks limiting further the ability of women to flee violence or seek prosecution from their abusers." Women activists have also said they feared the parliamentary proceedings could end up fixing a version of the law that weakened their protection against abuse.