Afghanistan: Thousands of judges, prosecutors live in fear of Taliban oppression

The British newspaper “The Guardian” published a new report in which it said that nearly 4,000 prosecutors and legal staff members face the threat of violence from the Taliban in Afghanistan, where at least 28 prosecutors and their families have reportedly been killed.

The newspaper conducted a phone call with one of the Afghan female prosecutors who served for three years in the Afghan attorney general’s office.

It explained that during her office, she had worked on more than 2,000 cases of crimes against women, including murder, rape and forced marriage. All that work to ensure justice, was immediately undone.

Speaking from a safe house in a neighbouring country she fled to after the Taliban takeover, she told the Guardian that “The Taliban came and released all the criminals we had convicted and I started to receive death threats – phone calls saying they would destroy my life and my family.”

The article reported that a former female chief prosecutor had said that “Those institutions and laws don’t exist anymore,” noting that “Men and women who were working as lawyers, prosecutors and judges are no longer allowed to exist. There is no one to defend injustices, and our colleagues are left vulnerable to criminals seeking revenge.”

A UN report, in January, shared similar findings: “A subset of prosecutors – especially those who investigated and prosecuted members of the Taliban – face extremely grave risks as a result of their previous work, and many reportedly remain in hiding.

Reports indicate that criminal offenders who were released by the Taliban have also sought to carry out reprisals against prosecutors and judges.”