A Victory From Afghanistan

Sohaila Amini,* a client of the Tahirih Justice Center, was granted Withholding of Removal on April 30, 2001, by an immigration judge in Arlington, VA, based on her fears of being killed by the Taliban and/or her family for having children out of wedlock in the United States. Granting Withholding of Removal stops the deportation process and allows the client to remain in the United States.

A former schoolteacher from Kabul, Afghanistan, Ms. Amini came to the US in 1998. The Taliban forced her to stop teaching in 1996 when they closed down the school where she taught. The Taliban had been gradually imposing more and more restrictive measures on girls and women, such as segregating schools, and forcing women to wear an all encompassing veil (the burqa), which made it difficult to walk and see. Afghan women, including Ms. Amini, were required to remain indoors unless accompanied by a close male relative and had to hang black curtains in their windows so as not to be seen. Ms. Amini had no choice but to adhere to all of these restrictions and left her house only twice from September to December 1996, when she and her family finally fled Afghanistan for Pakistan.

Ms. Amini’s father was imprisoned by the Taliban, and her brother-in-law was murdered by the Taliban in the months prior to the family's escape. Ms. Amini's family was targeted due to their minority status; they are ethnically Tajik and the Taliban are Pashto. A further reason for their persecution was due to their residence in a town in Afghanistan where a well-known anti-Taliban activist also resided.

Once in Pakistan, Ms. Amini and her family lived at a refugee camp, which current reports indicate has turned into a virtual 'death camp' where there is no food and disease is rampant due to overcrowding and harsh conditions. When Ms. Amini came to the US in 1998 after living in the camp for a year, she met a man with whom she developed a romantic relationship. She became pregnant, and eventually gave birth to two US-citizen children

Ms. Amini had no intention of telling her family in Pakistan that she had become a mother because as a Muslim woman she faced violence or even murder at the hands of her family for having children out of wedlock. Ms. Amini believed that her family would feel that she had brought shame upon them by violating Islam and that the family's honor should be vindicated by punishing her. Ms. Amini also feared that she would face death by stoning in Afghanistan, because the Taliban is known to inflict this punishment upon women who have transgressed Muslim rules regarding sexuality.

As a result of being granted Withholding of Removal, Ms. Amini is allowed to live and work in the United States, and she does not have to return to Afghanistan or Pakistan. Ms. Amini resides with her children and their father and intends to continue her teaching career.