When the Taliban's invaded Afghanistan, hundreds of females had to plunge for various reasons. One of them was that the Taliban had suspended male prisoners initially incarcerated by female judges for violent crimes against women.
Photo: BBC
The Taliban opened up prisons, allowing thousands of male convicts to take revenge on the women who had imprisoned them. A testimony of a female judge Sana (original name changed), published on BBC, claimed that she had been hunted for the past three months by the very men she sent to prison for grave violations against women. Twenty-six female judges have now fled to Greece, seeing it as the only way out of this hopeless situation.
The imprisoned men were incarcerated for different reasons: murder, suicide, rape, and other crimes. Comprehensibly, the imposed punishments for the culprits were severe. However, after the male prisoners were released, the female judges faced life-threatening messages like "We will kill you, when we find you".
Nearly leaving all their belongings behind, the women travelled to the airport with one bag only, sometimes their children on the side, hoping to flee. At the time of escape, they were not aware of what their final destination would be. Out of despair, the women did not see and have any other opportunity than putting their whole trust in the hands of strangers who coordinated the evacuation effort. The women were informed, however, that they might encounter security risks along the way of escape. Nevertheless, the outlook of committing themselves to these risks was still more promising than staying in Afghanistan.
A recent investigation from BBC revealed that the number of female judges hiding in despair was far greater than estimated. Allegedly, 220 female judges live under cover, fearing an act of revenge from the Taliban. Contacting these women from secret locations in Afghanistan, many of them disclosed they received threat messages on a daily basis.
In reaction to the allegations, Taliban spokesperson Bilal Karimi's assistant told the BBC: "Female judges should be able to live freely in the same way as any other family. No one should put them in danger. Our special military troops are required to examine such allegations and, if a violation exists, to take action."
The statement mentioned above contradicts the female judges' view, describing the last few months as a pure nightmare. Not only did they have to change their location every second or third day, but they also didn't have the chance to get back to their house as it already had been raided.
Article by: Ann Ziegler
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