Abdul Salam Azimi, Afghanistan’s former chief justice and a key figure in the country’s post-2001 legal system, has died at the age of 90, according to family members and former officials. He died in Turkey.
Azimi, born in 1936 in Farah province, was regarded as an influential legal scholar and jurist who played a central role in shaping Afghanistan’s judiciary after the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
He studied law and Islamic jurisprudence at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, earning a master’s degree, and later completed specialised legal studies at George Washington University in the United States. He went on to teach at Kabul University’s Faculty of Sharia and also lectured at the University of Nebraska.
In 2003, Azimi served as a key member of Afghanistan’s constitutional drafting commission and was later appointed senior legal adviser to then-president Hamid Karzai.
He was nominated by Karzai as chief justice in 2006 and won approval from parliament. In 2011, lawmakers said his legal term had expired, but no successor was named at the time and Azimi remained in office until the formation of a new government, after which his resignation was accepted.
During the presidency of Ashraf Ghani, Azimi was awarded the Ghazi Amanullah Khan state medal in recognition of his public service.
Karzai, in a statement, described Azimi as a dignified and principled figure who rendered “valuable services to the country”, particularly during his tenure as head of the judiciary.
Former foreign minister Hanif Atmar said Azimi was a patient and compassionate scholar who dedicated his life to the protection and advancement of fundamental rights and freedoms in Afghanistan.
Azimi’s death comes as Afghanistan’s legal system has undergone sweeping changes since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, reversing many of the reforms he helped shape.
