‘I don’t think I'd be as brave as female Afghan judges’

UK High Court judge Mrs Justice McGowan says she personally wouldn’t be “brave enough” to have become a female judge in Afghanistan.

More than 220 female Afghan judges are in hiding in fear of retribution from the Taliban, one month since US forces left the country.

Many women have been left stranded in the country, fearing for their lives as they cross the country in search of safety.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live’s Naga Munchetty, Mrs Justice McGowan said people can “joke about wanting to burn your textbooks at the end of a course”, but that the Afghan judges have had to destroy the law books and degrees which were “really valuable to them” in order to stay safe within Afghanistan.