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.
When the Taliban seized back power in the country in August 2021, Sara*, who was 28 at the time, was just a few weeks shy of completing three years serving as a prosecutor in the Afghan attorney general’s office.
In the short time she spent there, Sara 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.
“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,” she told the Guardian, speaking from a safe house in a neighbouring country she fled to after the Taliban takeover.
Sara was no stranger to threats, and had become familiar with the risks posed by her choice of career. But among the threatening calls she received, one particular message gave her reason to fear for her life.
“I had led the investigation into a case of a 26-year-old woman who had escaped brutal abuse from her husband, who we found out was a member of the Taliban,” she said. “We summoned him with the help of the police and the case was eventually transferred to primary court. He was sentenced to six months of imprisonment.”
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