1st female attorney starts work in Ghor court

FEROZKOH (Pajhwok): For the first time, a female attorney has been appointed at the provincial prosecutor’s office in western Ghor cases, it was learnt on Sunday.

Nagina Ghori, a Sharia Law graduate, was recently appointed as attorney for violence against women.

“When I was attending school, I noticed that violence against women was paid little attention. So I decided to study Sharia Law and work for providing women access to justice,” Ghori said.

She said a woman could better understand and address problems of other women as compared to men.

The appointment of female attorney in Ghor was warmly welcomed by women activists in the province.

Farida Naseri, women’s affairs manager at the provincial human rights commission office, said it was for the first time in Ghor history that a woman was appointed as attorney.

“We appreciate the appointment as a good move because there was no attorney in the violence against women section of Ghor attorney’s office, a female attorney increases our hopes that cases of violence against women would be addressed properly in future,” she said. She added now women could share and explain their cases openly to the attorney.

Afghan Women Network (AWN) head in Ghor, Nuria Navid, said women in the province had long been suffering from kangaroo courts, particularly in recent few years.

“We can mention Rukhshana case in Ghor last year. The government did nothing so far in her case, we hope Nagina Ghori who is aware of the problems of Ghor women would be able to eliminate violence against women and help them find justice,” she said.

Rukhshana, a 19-year-old girl, was stoned to death in compliance with a kangaroo court orders and the unmarried man she had eloped with was whipped in Awdak Ghaleem village on the outskirts of Firozkoh, the provincial capital, on Oct. 25 by local Taliban militants.

Low presence of female officers

Masuma Anwari, provincial women’s affairs director, said even a single female officer had not been appointed in 25 departments of the province. She said 95 percent of women had no access to justice.

“Ghor women first need justice, without justice, violence against them cannot be eliminated,” she said.

mds/ma

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