Afghan Canadian fears mother may be sent back into Taliban's hands after they nearly killed her

An Afghan Canadian man is calling on the federal government to speed up the refugee sponsorship process for his mother, who fled Afghanistan after she was beaten by the Taliban and is now hiding in Tajikistan to avoid deportation back to Kabul.

Noorullah Hakemi, who lives in Ottawa and came to Canada in 2019, said his mother, Bibi Khatoon Yaqoubi, 57, remains in danger because the authoritarian government in Tajikistan has ordered the deportation of Afghan refugees.

"She is living in a good condition for now from the health perspective, but it's not a good condition from the safety perspective," Hakemi told CBC News.

He served as an adviser in the Afghan government before the Taliban took power.

"There is huge human rights violation [in Tajikistan]. They're arresting people, they're be