Afghan judges in Brazil still fear the Taliban’s retribution
BRASILIA, BRAZIL
A female judge, Muska, was hiding with her family from newly empowered Taliban militants in Afghanistan when an apparent reading mistake 7,000 miles away helped to drastically change her life.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro opened his nation’s doors to potential refugees from the Asian nation during remarks at the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 21.
“We will grant humanitarian visas for Afghan Christians, women, children and judges,” he read on the teleprompter – apparently mispronouncing the final word, which was “jovens” — youngsters — in his printed speech as “juizes,” or judges.
Error or not, his government fulfilled that offer.
Muska and her family were taken by bus to the northern city of Mazar-iSharif and were then flown to Greece with six female colleagues.
By the end of October, they found themselves in Brazil — a country with very little in common with Afghanistan beyond their shared love of soccer.
Speaking to international media for the first time, Muska told The Associated Press this week that she and the other judges still fear retribution from the Taliban — some of whose members had been sentenced for various crimes in their courts.
She asked that her true name not be used, nor her precise location — at a Brazilian military installation — be published. Her colleagues declined to speak to the news media.
Muska had been a judge for almost 10 years before the Taliban captured power in August and she said her home in the capital, Kabul, had recently been searched.
Afghanistan had about 300 female judges, Muska said, and many are now in hiding, their bank accounts frozen.
“We knew they (the Taliban) wouldn’t let the women judges work. We would have serious threats to our lives,” she said. “They released all the criminals from the prison. These were the criminals that we sentenced.”
The judges who remain “are very scared, in hiding. They have serious financial problems, no