She jailed scores of Taliban fighters. Now freed, they’re targeting all Afghan women judges
- Most of Afghanistan’s 270 female judges escaped to western nations when the Taliban took over
- About 50 female judges remain in Afghanistan, in hiding, and another 20 are stranded in Pakistan, where they live in fear of being handed to the Taliban
“When the Taliban seized power, they opened the prison gates. I’ve lived every day since then in panic and fear,” Sara told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from a secret location where she lives with her children and husband.
They have received countless death threats in phone calls and WhatsApp messages, and said their old homes had been repeatedly raided by Taliban members.
“During my career, prisoners warned me, ‘When we’re released, we will kill you and your family.’ Even now just talking about this, I’m shaking with fear,” said Sara who, like other judges in hiding, used a pseudonym for security reasons.
When the Taliban took over Afghanistan there were about 270 women judges. At high risk of reprisals, most escaped in the chaotic aftermath of the takeover – some in a rescue mission part-funded by Harry Potter author and British philanthropist JK Rowling.
