Khadija Salehi spent seven years working in Afghanistan’s Attorney-General’s Office. But the former prosecutor now lives in fear of being murdered by the men she put away.
“After the government fell and the prisoners were released; The first verbal threat I received was ‘I will not leave you alive and if I catch you, I will blow you up or destroy you’,” she says.
She has become a prisoner in her own home, only leaving to move to different locations twice a month to minimize the risk of attack.
“We national security prosecutors have been taken hostage because we cannot leave our homes,” she says. “There is always the risk of attack by Taliban forces and released prisoners. It is an indescribable feeling.”
Today U.S. prosecutors came together to launch Prosecutors for Prosecutors-a campaign to get Afghan Prosecutors out of Afghanistan. @SimGillDA @Rachel1Mitchell @ryanmearsindy Join us: https://t.co/aiiYwtRlJd pic.twitter.com/Ahfm7QS3bK
— Association of Prosecuting Attorneys (@APAinc) July 27, 2023
When the Taliban seized power two years ago, taking swift control of towns and cities across Afghanistan, one of its first priorities was to open the gates of prisons. Taliban militants were released immediately. Common criminals also walked free. A total of 36,000 prisoners are believed to have been let out.
Statistics provided by the Afghan Prosecutors Association suggest all prosecutors could be in the crosshairs of revenge attacks.
Since August 2021, when the Taliban toppled the former government, 30 prosecutors have been murdered. Eleven have been injured in attacks.
The attacks have taken place in 20 provinces, but the most dangerous area by far is Kabul, with 18 known incidents.
While a small minority of prosecutors were women, they feel especially vulnerable. Three women have been murdered and four injured.
Even under the previous government, it was dangerous to be a prosecutor. The problem then was attacks by terrorist groups, including the Taliban. During the 20 years of “republican” rule, officials registered 133 killings of prosecutors and more than 200 injuries.
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At least 40 Afghanistan’s former prosecutors killed and wounded in the past two years
