Before the United States withdrew its forces from Afghanistan last August, Najla Raheel was a busy lawyer specializing in assisting victims of domestic violence. She dedicated her free time to serving on legislative committees to strengthen protections for women’s rights. She also served in the upper echelons of the country’s nascent independent bar association. But [...]
“Lawyers have the courage to speak up. Lawyers are educated. Lawyers are the people that can object to whatever dark policies would like to implement. is going to start very soon. It’s going to be really, really terrible, even compared to what we have seen so far,” warns Saeeq Shajjan, a corporate attorney from Kabul. [...]
Months have passed since the Taliban reclaimed control of Afghanistan amid the chaotic final chapter of the United States’ 20-year war in the country. Yet many thousands of the Afghan citizens who provided critical assistance to Washington and other foreign governments and international organizations over the past two decades now find themselves targeted for this [...]
As the diplomatic and military consequences of the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan continue to unfold, the true human cost remains immeasurable. Months after the last US forces departed from Kabul, leaving the country under Taliban rule, many face persecution for having upheld the very democratic ideals Washington and its allies spent two decades fostering [...]
On Sunday, a group of young Afghan lawyers gathered in a Kabul hotel to hold a press conference about the importance of an independent legal profession and respect for the rule of law in Afghanistan. As they prepared to go live, their plans were thwarted by two carloads of armed Taliban. This was the latest [...]
As a student preparing to enter her final year of legal studies in Afghanistan, Azad* felt that her future held infinite possibilities. The drive and talent that had propelled her top academic performance, paired with the sense that her country was at the dawn of a new era of good governance, had imbued her with [...]
Saurabh Kirpal is on track to becoming India’s first openly gay judge. Last week, the country’s Supreme Court recommended the nomination of Kirpal, a senior advocate and self-described “accidental LGBTQ activist,” to serve as a judge in the Delhi High Court, in what is considered by many to be a significant equal rights milestone—the latest [...]
JURIST Deputy Features Editor Anne Bloomberg recently spoke with Elizabeth Goitein, director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program, about the case FBI v. Fazaga, for which the Supreme Court held oral arguments last week. The following has been edited and condensed for clarity. Anne Bloomberg (JURIST): Could you briefly explain [...]
The military coup in Myanmar has destabilized most of the country, but many in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, one of its poorest, see little difference between the old democratic regime and the military dictatorship. The Rakhine, or the Arakanese, have suffered through British and Japanese colonialism, poverty, exploitation, and human rights violations. An 18 month-long internet blackout, [...]
