A female former senior judge from Afghanistan who is in hiding from the Taliban with her son has filed an appeal to the Home Office after her application to enter the UK was denied. Lawyers for the woman – who is named as “Y” – said on Saturday they had submitted an appeal on behalf of their client and her son at the Immigration Tribunal, saying she had been left in a “gravely vulnerable position” by the withdrawal of British and other western troops. They said the British government’s decision has stopped them from joining British and settled family members in the UK who said they are “very afraid she will take her own life”.
The woman, 52, and her son, 24, fled Afghanistan and are in hiding in Pakistan after their home in Kabul was attacked and several of her former colleagues assassinated, her lawyers said in a statement. There are believed to be about 70 Afghan women judges in Afghanistan, and about 70 more who have escaped but are in similar conditions to Y. Katie Newbury, a partner at Kingsley Napley, the firm representing her, said the mother and son “are not safe or secure where they are now and they have close family in the UK eager to support them”. “Since November we have repeatedly chased the Home Office for a decision given the precarious situation,” she wrote on Twitter, adding that the Home Office had “dragged their feet”. At one point, she said they were told that the delays were due to resources being redirected to Ukraine. After nine months the applications were refused. The appeal is expected to take months. “The on-going toll of this delay is heartbreakingly set out by Y’s nephew in the UK,” said Newbury, going on to quote him. “‘The long delay and now refusal is exacerbating the pressures and bad mental health of my aunt and her son in Pakistan and of our entire family in the UK. My aunt has been in extremely poor mental health for the last few months and we are very afraid she will take her own life’.” Y’s legal team said her successful career across two decades in the Afghan judiciary included senior positions in the criminal court system and adjudicated cases involving crimes such as murder, rape, violence against women, terrorism offences and conspiring against the Afghan government. She was also responsible for security cases involving members of the Taliban who have since been freed and have roles in the new government. Her applications, submitted in November, included arguments made under article 8 of the European court of human rights, the right to respect for private and family life. Her lawyers believe she met the eligibility criteria for resettlement in the UK during the original evacuation but was not called forward, probably as a result of an administrative error. Oliver Oldman, an associate at Kingsley Napley, told the Guardian that the former judge and her son were only able to continue living in their apartment due to the goodwill of the landlord. The landlord was putting himself at risk of criminal punishment, and they live “under daily threat of being discovered by the authorities in Pakistan,” he said.
If they are discovered they will “almost inevitably” be deported to Afghanistan where they face a “high likelihood” of being killed. A Home Office spokesperson said: “The UK is taking a leading role in the international response to supporting at-risk Afghan citizens and has made one of the largest resettlement commitments of any country. “This includes welcoming over 21,000 Afghan women, children and other at-risk groups to the UK through a safe and legal route to resettle in the UK.”