'Their lives will be threatened just like mine' - a Judge who fled the Taliban fears for women

Video: Marzia Babakarkhail talking to ITV Correspondent Elaine Willcox

'The Taliban are scared of women with a brain or with a book - they see me as the enemy'

The words of a Supreme Court Judge forced to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban threatened her life.

Now Marzia Babakarkhail says she feels 'helpless' watching her country taken over by the brutal regime again.

She was trying to build a better world for women and girls - In 1994, Marzia set up the Afghan Women Social and Cultural Organisation (AWSCO), a group to help women and change attitudes in the country.

When the Taliban took power in 1997 they came looking for her.

"They broke down the front door, came into my house, slapped my mother... I was hiding by the back door. They spent five hours searching the house, and of course they wanted to find me to shoot me".

Marzia, had worked her way up the court system in Afghanistan - a rarity for a woman in the country at the time - from administrator to a judge at the age of 26.

After another assassination attempt - where Marzia was deliberately run over and left for dead - her mother begged her to run for her life.

Marzia arrived as a refugee in Oldham, 13 years ago with one small suitcase, and set out to help other people in her situation seeking asylum.

Now after the US withdrew its forces from Afghanistan she feels her country has been abandoned.

Her biggest fear is for women and girls, and says they are once again forced out of daily life.

The Taliban says it is holding talks aimed at forming an “open, inclusive Islamic government” in Afghanistan, after the militants captured almost all of the country.

But Marzia says she doesn't believe them, she says she's 'saddened, disappointed and afraid'.

She fears female activists will face the same fate as she did, forced to flee or be targeted by the Taliban regime if they stay.

Marzia is now a British citizen, but says she feels helpless, watching what's happening in her country.

She has called on the international community to 'open their eyes' and see what is happening in Afghanistan and for the peace keeping forces to reeturn to keep women safe.