Plea for Help. Last week this plea for help arrived in our email. Please lobby your MP for more action, more refugee allocations.
Your Excellency,
The "tragic" situation in Afghanistan continues to worsen since the Taliban took over in August 2021 and all government entities including the legal system collapsed as the Taliban are establishing their own Islamic government.
Pursuant to that, after the 15th Aug Despite all their commitments to the international community, they fired all Judicial staff from the system and replaced them with non-educated judges of their own groups. Undoubtedly well-trained and competent judges are a significant of the twenty years of achievements of the international community.
Now, that the Taliban regime has taken control, judges are being threatened with death. Afghanistan Judges Association (AJA) is greatly concerned about the lives of at-risk judges and their families in Afghanistan.Judges in AFG are facing specific risks of death, torture, and persecution across the country. I’m sure you are informed of the situation on the ground; the Taliban recently arrested 40 people mostly judges in the Province of Mazar-e-Sharif just before their flight to leave Afghanistan for safety.
A few weeks earlier, Judge Mojahid was arrested, interrogated, and tortured for 8 days in Logar Province. There are many such cases that happened in Kabul, Bamyan, Panjshir, and other Provinces. Afghanistan has become an open-air prison for judges. Their lives are in increased danger because of the nature of their work and the high probability of retaliation by the persons convicted/sentenced including the Taliban and members of IS-K who were released from prisons after the collapse of the Government in Afghanistan.
It’s obvious that Judges had dedicated their lives and career to the development of Rule of law, Human Rights, and Values of Democracy in the past two decades.I specifically want to expand that, I have been evacuated with the help of the International Association of Judges (IAJ) on 25, OCT, 2021 to the UAE Humanitarian City, but still, I live there in limbo with an uncertain fate without freedom of movement and no attention has been yet paid to us.
We never imagined this day, therefore,I kindly request your assistance with my relocation to New Zealand. I’m fully confident of your struggle for the values of rule of law and fundamental rights.
Yours Sincerely,
Judge Noori
President of Afghanistan Judges Association