Afghan women: "There is no longer any possibility of working and exercising my profession as a judge"
Afghan women at an event in Kabul on March 7, 2021 to mark my International Women's Day (Illustrative image).
AP - Rahmat Gul
Text by: Achim Lippold Follow
6 mins
What prospects for Afghan women under the new Taliban government?
Here is the testimony of a young magistrate who wished to remain anonymous.
She has been a judge for 10 years, practiced in Mazar-I-Sharif and in Balkh.
Like her sisters, the other 420 female judges in the country, she now lives in fear of being pursued by the Taliban, certain that she will no longer be able to practice her profession.
And like many other compatriots, she has only one wish: to leave.
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RFI
: Where are you currently
?
I live in hiding in Kabul.
It has now been two weeks since the Taliban took control of the city.
At first I didn't go out at all, but now I go out a bit because it's very hard for me to stay at home all the time, I'm not used to it.
RFI: You have been practicing as a judge in Afghanistan for 10 years. Do you feel that you have contributed to improving women's rights?
I was an example for many girls in the country.
They said to themselves: I too could become a judge one day.
I practiced among other things as a judge in family cases.
And I remember that women were often reassured by the fact that the judge was also a woman.
I also organized workshops and taught courses on human rights, women's rights and children's rights.
I also participated in many television and radio shows on these subjects.
I have always sought contact with people, with students to share my experience with them.
And also to tell them that Afghan society needs female judges!
RFI: Have you been discriminated against in the exercise of your profession?
No, within the judicial institution, I have never had a problem.
It was the society which, at the beginning, did not want to accept the fact that women could become magistrates.
People were still brainwashed by the Taliban who prohibited women from serving as judges.
But then Afghan society changed.
We are now 420 female judges.
RFI: Have you received any threats?
Yes, they threatened me, especially from last year. Me and my brother to whom they messaged, asking him to make sure that I quit my job because, according to their interpretation of Islam, a woman cannot be a judge. Sometimes they would call me at 3 a.m. to ask me to quit. But I did not give in, I continued. Now everything has changed. After these remote threats, the Taliban now control the institutions, forcing us to give up our work. The other threat comes from the prisoners that we, the female judges, have sentenced and who have been released by the Taliban. Two days ago, the Taliban spokesman said women will no longer be able to work as judges. It was really bad news for us. And itis also the main reason why I want to leave the country. There is no longer any possibility of working here and of exercising my profession as a judge. Remember that a few months ago (January 17, 2021 Editor's note), two female judges were shot dead in Kabul. This shows what the Taliban thinks of us!
RFI: So you hope to be able to leave, to be evacuated?
Yes, I don't know if I will be able to leave and if so, where I will go.
But the idea of leaving my country, my family, my work for which I am committed so much, it is really very, very hard.
I would like to add one thing: I, eventually,
can get out of here, others too,
I hope, hundreds or thousands. But there will remain millions of Afghan girls and women who will not be able to leave the country and who will have no future under the rule of the Taliban. We already know that girls will only be in school until the end of primary school. Afterwards, they will have to leave school. The other announcement made by the Taliban in education is that there will be separate lessons for boys and girls. Until now, the classes have been mixed. This means that the number of teachers and professors will have to be increased. This policy of separation will create a shortage in the teaching profession. Result: some schools and faculties will not be able to reopen at the start of the school year. I am really very angry and very worried about my country.
►Also read: Afghan women express their fears and concerns about the Taliban
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