Afghan judge in hiding is refused entry to UK

An Afghan judge hiding in Pakistan is the first of potentially dozens of people to appeal against the Home Office’s refusal to allow them entry to the UK.

Yosra, 42, whose name has been changed, sat as a judge in Afghanistan for two decades and held senior positions in the criminal court.

Her lawyers said she had jailed thousands of criminals, including hundreds of Taliban who have since been freed and are now part of the government.

Fearing for her life after the Taliban takeover a year ago, she and her son went into hiding.

The judge said despite being told by British officials that she was eligible for resettlement under the Afghan relocations and assistance policy (ARAP), she was not among those evacuated from Kabul, so fled to Pakistan.

About 150 other women judges, including 70 still in Afghanistan, are said to be living in fear.

Lawyers for Yosra told The Times that even before the Taliban’s takeover she received death threats and her house was attacked. She and her son are living unlawfully in Pakistan in accommodation paid for by her nephew, a civil servant in the UK. He said the family fears that her deteriorating mental health will lead her to take her own life.

Yosra applied to join her sister and nephew and his family. But after ten months, in a process that officials say should take three, the Home Office refused her application, stating: “There is no provision for someone to be allowed to travel to the UK to seek asylum or temporary refuge”.

The Whitehall letter said: “Those who need international protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach — that is the fastest route to safety.”

At the immigration and asylum tribunal yesterday her lawyers lodged an appeal against the decision.

Court of Appeal guidance issued last week in judicial review proceedings brought on behalf of two other Afghan judges denied entry to the UK instructed officials to consider their claims despite the immigration rules.

Oliver Oldman, a solicitor at Kingsley Napley, the law firm representing Yosra, said: “The commitments made to those at risk in Afghanistan [are] seemingly already forgotten.”

The Home Office said ministers would not comment on specific cases, adding that the UK “is taking a leading role in the international response to supporting at-risk Afghan citizens and has made one of the largest commitments to resettlement of any country. This includes welcoming over 21,000 Afghan women, children and other at-risk groups with a safe and legal route to resettle in the UK and we are working as fast as possible to house everyone.”