A former Afghan judge who is in hiding from the Taliban has appealed to the Home Office after it denied her application for permission to enter the UK.

Lawyers from Kingsley Napley announced on Saturday that they had filed the first appeal at the Immigration Tribunal on behalf of their client – named only as “Y” – and her son.

They said the judge once presided over cases concerning Taliban members and violence against women.

“If any case should be granted on compassionate grounds, it is this one,” said Oliver Oldman, a Kingsley Napley immigration solicitor.

“Our client is in constant fear she will be discovered and deported back to Afghanistan where she and her son’s personal safety is at risk.”

The firm said the government’s decision has blocked the pair from reuniting with British and settled family members in the UK, including her nephew who works as a civil servant.

Her family wish to look after her, “notably at no cost to the British taxpayer”, Mr Oldman added.

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In a statement, the legal team said woman Y had been left in a “gravely vulnerable position” after the withdrawal of Western troops from Afghanistan and the subsequent return of the Taliban regime.

The former judge and her son are currently hiding in Pakistan after fleeing Afghanistan, they wrote. Her home was attacked in Kabul and several of her former colleagues were assassinated.

The lawyers described how Y had adjudicated security cases in which Taliban members, their affiliates and sympathisers were sentenced, and who have now been freed from prison, holding official positions in the new government.

During a successful career in the Afghan judiciary, Y held senior positions in the Criminal Court system and presided over cases involving crimes like violence against women, rape, terrorism offences and conspiring against the Afghan government, her team said.

Kingsley Napley lawyers submitted applications on behalf of the woman and her son in November last year, which included arguments made under Article 8 of the European Court of Human Rights, the right to respect for private and family life.

But this month the Home Office notified her lawyers that her application had been rejected.

Mr Oldman argued the UK government had a “moral duty to permit our client’s safe passage, given the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and this judge’s life-long commitment to protecting the rights of women and children as well as the rule of law and upholding democratic values in Afghanistan”.

He accused the government of creating “false narrative” around safe and legal migration routes.

“Here we have two applicants, fleeing the most acute danger in Afghanistan, who have tried through these supposed legal routes to reach safety in the UK and join their family,” he said.

“A clearer elucidation of the false narrative surrounding safe and legal routes would be hard to find.”

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The government recently published updated figures on the number of people who had been brought from Afghanistan to safety in the UK, following demands for information ahead of the one-year anniversary of Taliban forces capturing Kabul.

The total exceeded 21,000 people, the government said, including British nationals and their families, Afghans who worked for the UK, and people identified as high-risk.

But a breakdown solely of the number of Afghan refugees who had arrived in the UK was not provided.

Read more:
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Father who served with British Army in Afghanistan has spent a year hiding from Taliban

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.”

Amnesty International UK said the “patchwork of figures” are a “reminder of the chaos and delay of the UK’s response to the Taliban a year ago”.

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