“If I hadn’t fled Afghanistan, I would be locked up in my house, doing nothing, in total darkness. That in the best case. At worst she would be dead.” Obaida Sharar has found it difficult to accept this reality. She was very used to living in fear, facing criminals and receiving daily threats because of her prosecutor’s job in Kabul and in August 2021, when the Taliban took power again, she thought she could resist and stay. . She tried for months. She changed her home, went out to demonstrate with other women, frustrated and frightened, she locked herself in her house and finally decided to leave Afghanistan.
Her journey has lasted for months and has ended in Salamanca, where she has lived since the end of December with her husband, her six-year-old son and a little brother. Sharar is part of a group of 21 Afghan judges and prosecutors who requested asylum in Spain at the Islamabad embassy and managed to leave in recent weeks thanks to an urgent procedure promoted by legal organizations 14Lawyers, Progressive Union of Prosecutors (UPF) and European Magistrates for Democracy and Freedoms (MEDEL).
“This is a successful case, but the majority of Afghan judges, prosecutors and lawyers, men and women persecuted for having carried out their work, continue to run a very high risk in Afghanistan and also in neighboring countries such as Pakistan and Iran”, declared Ignacio Rodríguez, of the organization 14Lawyers, stating that there are 150 prosecutors in Pakistan awaiting a response from the Spanish authorities and some 3,500 lawyers, prosecutors and judges who are waiting inside and outside Afghanistan for some type of international protection.
In 2022, the then United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, publicly denounced the danger faced by Afghan jurists. For 14Lawyers, UFP and MEDEL, judges, lawyers and prosecutors are exposed to arrests, torture and assassinations because “they chose to defend democracy and the rule of law and face the terrorist pressure of the Taliban during these 20 years”. In the case of these 21 prosecutors recently arrived in Spain, the danger was increased by the simple fact of being women.
Collapse of the judicial system
The exile of these Afghan prosecutors illustrates “the collapse of the Afghan judicial system” and the end of two decades of progress, in the words of Teresa Mínguez, from the Madrid Bar Association (ICAM), where the jurists held a meeting with the press. They have gone from applying the law to living almost like fugitives.
For Inés Herreros, president of the UFP, “the hardest thing is to hear women prosecutors or judges, who have fought all their lives to be who they are, say that they regret having chosen this profession because they have put their lives and of his entire family.”
Obaida Sharar and her family fled Kabul with $400 in their pockets. She still finds her voice cut off when she remembers that she was arrested by the Taliban at the border and she thought they would find out what she was working on and she would never get out of it. She already knew that she was pregnant with her second child and she trembled with fear. “But we crossed. When I arrived in Pakistan, I sent dozens of emails to NGOs, international organizations, embassies and finally the one from Spain, she responded, ”she describes.
It’s not easy, but at least here I feel safe. I always think of the women who are still in Afghanistan and I ask them, please, not to leave us alone with the Taliban, please. don’t close your eyes
Obaida Sharar, Afghan prosecutor seeking asylum in Spain
The wait lasted for seven months and in Pakistan, the situation for Afghan refugees was and is very complicated. With the flow of migrants from the neighboring country, prices rose and it was difficult to find a ceiling. The visas were valid for two months and when they expired it was difficult to renew them. The black market flourished and several hundred euros had to be paid to obtain a new permit because residing in the country illegally increased the risks. Finally, the Pakistani government announced that it would repatriate all Afghans without valid visas as of December 31, 2022.
“We started receiving messages on our mobile phones saying that we had to leave before the end of 2022 and whether or not we would be deported or go to jail for three years. We began to live with fear in our bodies, thinking that they were going to arrest us and deport us to Afghanistan. That is what is happening right now with our colleagues”, denounces Obaida Sharar.
Niyaz Muhammad Rasikh, representative of the Association of Afghan Prosecutors in Exile, confirms that exiled lawyers in countries like Pakistan continue to be in great danger. “We continue to risk our lives here as well. They can deport us at any time, which would mean death for many. The international community must support us because we are victims for supporting democracy and defending human rights,” he told reporters, in a video call from Islamabad.
Criticism of the Spanish management
According to Ignacio Rodríguez, the Spanish government needs “more political will” and more resources to strengthen its diplomatic missions in Pakistan and Iran in order to meet Afghan asylum requests. At the end of 2022, this newspaper echoed the complaints of refugees who had been waiting for months for an appointment at the Islamabad embassy and received a message saying that it had been cancelled. “Before August 2022, the Spanish management was ineffective and we could say even arbitrary. After that date, a protocol was established with clearer and more egalitarian rules and since December appointments have been made for people who have applied for asylum,” admits Rodríguez.
Last December, sources from the Foreign Ministry consulted by this newspaper stated that there had been “no abandonment” by Spain of these Afghans who fled to neighboring countries such as Pakistan and Iran and explained that the files were complex and time was needed. to manage these requests.
We keep risking our lives here too. They can deport us at any time, which would mean death for many
Niyaz Muhammad Rasikh, representative of the Association of Afghan Prosecutors in Exile
According to the president of 14Lawyers, the resources available to the Spanish embassies in these countries are “scarce”. “Right now, our embassy in Islamabad has the capacity to grant 30 visas a month, which is a derisory figure when we see the demands. You have to reinforce these missions yes or yes ”, he adds.
For Filipe Marques, from MEDEL, the arrival in Spain of these prosecutors should be “only the starting point of something bigger” for the Government. “Starting in July, Spain will preside over the European Union (EU) and can mobilize the governments of the bloc to welcome hundreds of people who are in danger. Spain has that great responsibility and that great opportunity,” he said.
The 21 prosecutors received by Spain are installed in different cities and receive assistance from the Red Cross. Obaida Sharar is not sure what future awaits him in Spain. She has siblings in Germany and Iran and she lives permanently worried about her parents, who are still in Kabul, while she tries to find her place in Salamanca. “It’s not easy, but at least here I feel safe. I always think of the women who are still in Afghanistan and I ask them, please, not to leave us alone with the Taliban. Do not close your eyes, ”she says goodbye to her.
You can follow PLANETA FUTURO on Twitter, Facebook and instagramand subscribe here to our newsletter.
#applying #law #living #fugitives #odyssey #Afghan #prosecutors #reach #Spain