Under the Taliban's new laws, more than 220 female judges are in hiding because they fear they will be punished for having convicted thousands of defendants for violence against women, rape, murder and torture, the majority of whom were members of the Taliban and Isis. Thousands of these convicted criminals have been released by the Taliban and are now threatening the lives of the women who took them to prison.
Many of them have already left the country, under very difficult conditions because they do not have all the money, just as not all the members of their families have passports, since the whole family moves with them and suffers. Twenty-six (26) of the women judges arrived in Greece, as an intermediate station, with much fear, anxiety and struggle, they are in apartments in Athens with temporary visa, food and shelter and with the advice to apply for political asylum in third countries. For some, history is repeating itself as they had relived the refugee life with their families in 1996 when the Taliban were back in power.It is certain that with the Taliban it is not possible for women to maintain the gains and progress they have made in the last 20 years, but on the other hand the women of Afghanistan today are not what they were 20 years ago. Having arrived with great difficulty at the point of enjoying certain rights and liberties, they do not seem willing to sacrifice them so easily. In the first days when the Taliban took power, women took to the streets demonstrating for their rights to work, to education, to free movement, to participate in political life.
The Taliban's stance to date has been to confine working women and schoolgirls to their homes, claiming that this is a temporary measure until the work environment and schools are deemed safe, but without giving a time frame for when the situation will change.
Nevertheless, the fact is that right now women are locked up in their homes while the criminals are free.