The Guardian - UK (2022-05-02)

Monday 2 May 2022 The Guardian •

5

Faith in the city Members of the Sikh community in Leith, Edinburgh, take part in a nagar

kirtan, a street procession honouring the holy scripture of Sikhism, the Guru Granth Sahib.

The wearing of saff ron or orange is a traditional part of the annual ceremony, held by Sikhs

around the world, which culminates in prayers at the local gurdwara, or place of worship.

PHOTOGRAPH:

DUNCAN MCGLYNN

Judge in hiding

in Afghanistan

says Britain has

abandoned him

Diane Taylor

A senior judge who prosecuted

terrorists and is now in hiding in

Afghanistan feels “heartbroken,

abandoned and backstabbed ” by the

British government over its refusal

to bring him to safety despite a high

court ruling in his favour.

The high-profi le judge, whom the

Guardian is not naming for his safety,

also received strong support from

two former independent reviewers

of terrorism legislation.

He worked closely with British

and US forces to prosecute Taliban,

Islamic State, al-Qaida and Haqqani

network terrorists captured in

Afghanistan, and is at such high risk

that he has to hide in separate loca-

tions from the rest of his family, who

are also in hiding. He cannot have

direct phone conversations for fear

of his location being revealed. A high

court ruling on 1 April supported his

claim for sanctuary in the UK.

The British government has

accepted he is at risk in Afghanistan

but says he does not meet the policy

criteria for being brought to the UK.

Offi cials said his contribution to

the UK’s counter-terrorism work in

Afghanistan was “minimal”’ and that

because the court where he prose-

cuted terrorists captured by the allies

was an Afghan institution, he was

not a direct employee of the British

government.

The judge faces having to make a

dangerous journey to Pakistan to a UK

visa processing centre to get his biom-

etrics done for a visa application. But

if the UK government then refuses the

visa he could be deported from Paki-

stan back to Afghanistan and placed

directly in the hands of the Taliban.

The high court ruling from Mrs

Justice Lieven states: “I do accept

that if it did happen it would place

JZ [anonymised initials used in the

ruling ] and possibly his family at real

and immediate risk of death.”

The crossbench peers and former

independent reviewers of terrorism

legislation Andrew Carlile and David

Anderson wrote to the Home Offi ce

on 15 April , urging them to reconsider

their decision not to allow the judge

to come to the UK.

The judge in hiding told the Guard-

ian through an intermediary: “ I was

once considered an important ally ... I

am heartbroken, abandoned and feel

backstabbed by the government for

refusing to relocate me in the UK. ”

An M oD spokesperson said offi -

cials were unable to comment on

individual cases, adding: “ To date we

have relocated over 9,000 applicants

and their dependants to the UK. ”

Menopausal women lack basic

support, fi nds landmark study

Jessica Murray

Eight in 10 respondents in the largest

ever survey of menopausal women in

the UK said their workplace had no

basic support in place and 41% said

menopause symptoms were treated

as a joke by colleagues.

The landmark study found men-

opausal women were being ignored

in the workplace and by healthcare

providers, with a third saying it took

many GP appointments before they

were diagnosed with menopause or

perimenopause. This rose to 45% for

black and minoritised women.

The fi ndings were revealed in a

report by the Fawcett Society , based

on a survey of more than 4,

women commissioned by Channel 4

for a documentary by Davina McCall ,

to be broadcast today.

Of those surveyed, 44% said their

ability to work had been aff ected by

their symptoms but the majority said

their workplace had no support net-

works (79%), no absence policies

(81%) and no information sharing

with staff (79%).

Other findings include 22% of

disabled women leaving jobs due to

their symptoms, compared to 9% of

non-disabled women. Many women

said they had taken time off due to

menopause, but 39% cited anxiety

or depression as the reason , rather

than share their menopause status.

“Menopausal women are expe-

riencing unnecessary misery and

it’s a national scandal,” said Jem-

ima Olchawski, the chief executive

of the Fawcett Society. “For too long

menopause has been shrouded in

stigma. We need to break the culture

of silence and ensure menopausal

women are treated with the dignity

and support they deserve instead of

being expected to just get on with it.”

that severity. The most commonly

reported symptoms were diffi culty

sleeping (84%), brain fog (73%) and

anxiety or depression (69%).

Almost half (45%) of respondents

said they hadn’t spoken to their GP

surgery about their symptoms due

to stigma around the issue.

“Too often menopause symp-

toms have been dismissed as a joke

and HRT has been labelled a lifestyle

drug,” said Olchawski. “Faced with

that misinformation, is it a wonder

that only half of women are even

seeking help from their GP?

“The government needs to make

urgent changes, from requiring

employers to have menopause action

plans, to creating a route into men-

opause healthcare, to ensuring that

GPs are adequately trained to spot

menopause symptoms.”

Recommendations in the report

includ ed implementing a public

information campaign, with 87% of

menopausal women agreeing that all

women in their 40s or 50s should be

sent a list of menopause symptoms

by the NHS.

It also suggested every woman in

her 40s or 50s should be invited to

speak with her GP about menopause

and GPs should receive mandatory

training to help earlier diagnosis.

Offi cial guidance states hormone

replacement therapy (HRT) should

be offered to women struggling

with menopause symptoms, but

there have been acute shortages of

some HRT products and demand is

expected to rise.

The survey found 39% of women

said their GP or nurse off ered HRT as

soon as they knew they were experi-

encing menopause, but only 14% of

menopausal women said they were

currently taking HRT.

The majority of women (77%)

reported at least one menopause

symptom they found “very diffi cult”,

while 44% of women said they expe-

rienced three or more symptoms of

45%

P roportion of menopausal women

surveyed who had not spoken to

their GP about their symptoms

Neighbours fi nale

Jason and Kylie

return for last episode

Page 11

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New study to fi nd

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