Three years after the Taliban returned to power, the reform of the Afghan legal system is having a serious impact on the lives of the Taliban.

The Taliban say their hard-line judges are not only upholding current laws but are also working overtime to reach into the past and overturn previous rulings, offering free appeals to the public in a massive undertaking.

This has led to a rise in tens of thousands of old cases being renegotiated under the Taliban’s Sharia (Islamic law). Women are particularly affected by this.

The Taliban are annulling some of the old regime’s divorces and forcing women back into unwanted marriages. Female judges are being excluded from the legal system: “Women are neither qualified nor capable of judging, because according to Sharia principles, the work of a judge requires highly intelligent people.”

Ten days after the Taliban returned to power, 20-year-old Bibi Nazdana was helping her mother in the kitchen when her father came home.

Visibly worried, she goes closer to hear what her father is saying to her older brother.

“When I hear my name, my heart starts racing and I burst into tears,” said Nazdana.

The Taliban court in her home province of Uruzgan reopens her case. She is summoned again to fight her divorce from a man she never wanted to marry.

When Nazdana was only seven years old, her father agreed to let her marry when she reached puberty to settle a family dispute. This practice, known as a “bad marriage,” aims to turn a family “enemy” into a “friend.”

When Nazdana turns 15, Hekmatullah comes to take his wife home. But Nazdana immediately files for divorce and eventually regains her freedom.

“I have repeatedly told the court that I do not want to get married,” said Nazdana.

“After almost two years of fighting, I finally won the case. The court congratulates me and says, ‘You are now separated and can marry whoever you want.'”

To celebrate the day, they hold a gathering in their village and distribute food to friends and neighbors for the local mosque.

But a year later, the Taliban seized power and quickly imposed a strict interpretation of Sharia (Islamic law) throughout the country.

Her former husband, a new Taliban man, asked the court to overturn the verdict given under the previous trial, which this time excluded Nazdana from the trial under Sharia (Islamic law).

“The Taliban told me not to return to court because it violates Sharia law. They said my brother should represent me instead,” Nazdana said.

“They tell us that if we do not obey,” said Shams, Nazdana’s 28-year-old brother, “they will hand over my sister to me by force so that they can hand over the eggs to me (Hekmatullah).”

Although Shams objected to the judge, saying that the new sentence put his sister’s life in great danger, the court overturned the previous sentence and ordered that Nazdana must immediately return to her former husband Hekmatullah.

Nazdana appeals the decision to buy time to escape to the Kontri. Together with her brother, she flees her hometown and takes refuge in a neighboring Kontri.

The judge for Uruzgan did not speak publicly to the media, but we managed to visit the Taliban Supreme Court in the capital Kabul to get answers.

“Our judges are examining the case from all angles and are ruling in Hekmatullah’s favor,” said Abdulwahid Haqani, the Supreme Court’s media representative.

“The previous corrupt government’s decision to annul the marriage between Hekmatullah and Nazdana violated Sharia and marriage laws, because Hekmatullah was not present at the time of the trial.”

We are trying to get a comment from Hekmatullah, but we cannot reach him.

The Nazdana trial is just one of about 355,000 cases in which the Taliban government is said to have failed to reach agreement since it took power in August 2021. The Taliban say most of them involve criminal proceedings – an estimated 40% involve land disputes and another 30% involve family matters, including divorce.

The BBC was unable to verify the figures provided by the Taliban government.

If the Taliban return to power, they promise to end the corruption of the past and ensure “justice.” They systematically dismiss all judges and declare that women are not suitable to participate in the justice system.

“Women are neither qualified nor able to judge because according to our Sharia principles, judicial work requires highly intelligent people,” said Abdulrahim Rashid Tok, the director of external relations and communications at the Taliban Supreme Court.

Former Afghan Chief Justice Fawzia Amini is one of the judges ousted by the Taliban. She says women like Bibi Nazdana should be protected by the law.

“If a woman divorces her husband and the court documents are available as evidence, then it is final. Court rulings cannot change due to a change of regime,” Amini said.

Amini also says that dismissing female judges would prevent any new legal protections for women.

“We play an important role. For example, our achievements include the 2009 Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women. We are also working on the regulation of women’s shelters, guardianship of orphans and the Law Against Persecution of People, to name a few.”

After more than a decade of working at the top of Afghanistan’s legal system, Judge Amini was forced to run for the court. When the Taliban seized power, she said she received death threats from several men she had previously convicted.

“Our civil code is over half a century old. We have not been practicing it since the Taliban was founded,” Amini said. “All civil and criminal laws, including divorce provisions, are taken from the Koran.”

Now the Taliban claim that Afghanistan’s former rulers are simply not Islamic enough.

For the Taliban Supreme Court, they show us a room where they keep stacks of court cases on shelves – a tiny office space where staff from both the previous government and new Taliban hires share desks.

They told us that most of these cases were monitored during the previous regime and that the new judiciary is reopening them after they have appealed again.

“Previous courts made their decisions based on the criminal and civil codes. But today all decisions are based on Sharia (Islamic law).” Abdulrahim Rashid tok.

The Taliban rely largely on the religious law of Hanafi fiqh (jurisprudence), which dates back to the 8th century and is practiced throughout the Islamic world, for example in the Ottoman Empire, and to this day in various Islamic states.

Since fleeing to a neighboring Kontri, Nazdana has spent a year under a tree on a small stretch of sidewalk between two busy roads. She carried a bundle of tightly bound documents with her – her only proof of identity as a single, free woman.

“I knock on many doors and ask for help, including the UN, but no one hears my voice. Who supports them? As a woman, don’t I deserve freedom?”