“I’m really thankful that Ireland, the country, saved our lives,” says Zahra Haidari.
When the Taliban returned to power in 2021, Haidari (32) knew she had to get out of Afghanistan quickly. As the country’s first woman judge for cases of corruption and terrorism, she had been personally responsible for putting scores of Taliban members in prison, making her a target for the organisation’s programme of retribution.
Haidari’s line of work had always been dangerous. Two of her colleagues were killed when bombs were placed in their cars and she regularly received threats.
For years she and her colleagues were followed and surveilled by the Taliban. To try to shake off their pursuers, they had come up with a system of car sharing and swapping.
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“We were changing our cars regularly so that they didn’t know which car we would be in.” she says.
To protect her identity, Haidari wore a mask when she was carrying out investigations or in a courtroom. However, as the only woman working in her division, her identity was known anyway.
But despite the dangers, she says she was “in love” with her job. “I really enjoyed it. I said that, oh, okay, everyone will die one day. I have to be brave.”
She feels lucky to have been born into an open-minded family.
“In Afghanistan the philosophy is to not like having a girl or for a girl to be educated. But thankfully, my family was different.”
Her mother was a teacher who encouraged all her children to pursue education.
She studied law at university but was unsure exactly what she wanted to do until a conversation with a male professor convinced her to become a judge.
“I told him that I wanted to be judge. And he told me, ‘No, girls can’t be judges. You can be a teacher, you can be a doctor, you can do other things.’ That was the moment I decided, ‘I want to be a judge and I will show you that a girl can be a judge’.”
After graduating, Haidari clerked for Afghanistan’s supreme court for two years and then went back to university to train for the judiciary.
“The minimum age for being a judge was 25. I became a judge when I was 25. It was a really big achievement for me and for my family. We were all really happy.”
Haidari met her husband, Enayatullah Ebrahimi, at university; two of his sisters had classes with her.
“They told their family about me and his father, mother and sister came to our house and said to my family that if they accept, they want me to marry their son.”
The couple got immediately engaged but spent a year getting to know one another before getting married.
“The first thing that I liked about my husband was that he was very calm and he understands me. He became my supporter, like my family. He always supports me with everything.”
When US forces pulled out of Afghanistan, Haidari and her family went to a safe house in another part of the country.
“It was impossible to go to Kabul airport because there were a lot of Taliban people.”
She was in contact with the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) and the International Bar Association, which helped her and her husband secure Irish visas.
[ ‘When the Taliban came, I lost everything. I found Ireland like paradise’Opens in new window ]
However, she was unable to secure visas for the rest of her family, who four years later are still in hiding in her home country.
The couple made their way to Ireland on a convoluted route via Georgia and Greece. When they arrived, Haidari was eight months pregnant with her first child. The couple were loaned a house in Dublin by an Irish judge. They lived there for a year before finding a place of their own.
Haidari believes hospitality is something Irish and Afghan people share; she has been welcomed into many Irish homes.
“I tried barbecue, mashed potatoes and apple pie. Apple pie was so delicious. In Afghanistan we had apple jam, but not in this way.”
She recently secured a scholarship from the IAWJ to do a master’s in common law at UCD. There is a lot for her to catch up on as she learns about a completely different legal system – Afghanistan’s is based on civil law.
“Everything is totally different but I’m in love with the law.
Haidari is one of 10 judges from Afghanistan to have secured refuge in Ireland. Since arriving, they have offered a vital lifeline to one another.
“Some of them are my friends and we are still in contact with each other. We are meeting some days or nights to get together and have dinner or lunch. I also found some friends at university.”
She gave birth to a son in 2023. Although she misses her home country terribly, having a daughter has made her glad of her decision to leave so her children can have access to an education and the chance of a future in whatever field they choose.
“I really hope that I will be able to visit Afghanistan one day and I will show my children that this was where we used to live and this was where I worked.”
We would like to hear from people who have moved to Ireland in the past 10 years. To get involved, email newtotheparish@irishtimes.com or tweet @newtotheparish
