By Jim Loney

KABUL, May 24 (Reuters) A leading U S human rights group has called on Afghan lawmakers to immediately reinstate a controversial woman legislator who was removed from her seat for saying parliament was ''worse than a stable''.

Malalai Joya, an outspoken MP who has frequently riled fellow legislators, was ousted on Monday for insulting parliament after a recent television interview was played in the lower house.

New York-based Human Rights Watch lauded Joya as a courageous fighter for women's and children's rights in Afghanistan and said her comments did not warrant her removal.

''The Afghan parliament should be setting an example by promoting and protecting free expression, not by stamping it out,'' Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

Joya, one of 68 women elected to the 248-seat parliament, won fame in Western capitals for her criticism of mujahideen (holy warrior) leaders and commanders, some of whom now serve in parliament. She has campaigned for punishment for war crimes, even for fellow lawmakers.

In the offending interview she said of parliament: ''A stable is better, for there you have a donkey that carries a load and a cow that provides milk. The parliament is worse than a stable.'' HRW urged the assembly to amend the rule under which Joya was banished, which forbids lawmakers from criticising each other.

''The article banning criticism of parliament is an unreasonable rule that violates the principle of free speech enshrined in international law and valued around the world,'' Adams said.

Western-backed mujahideen fighters forced out Soviet forces in 1989 following a 10-year occupation in which nearly 2 million Afghans died.

Tens of thousands were then killed in years of bitter fighting between some of the mujahideen factions before the hardline Islamic Taliban seized Kabul in 1996.

The Taliban government imposed conservative, tribal codes of conduct. Women were forced to wear head-to-toe burqas, confined to their homes and beaten if found outside without a male relative. Girls were barred from schools.

Joya, a 28-year-old women's rights activist, won her seat in landmark elections in 2005. Twenty-five percent of the seats in parliament are reserved for women.

REUTERS AK HT1637