Since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, it has clamped down on women’s rights, including limits to schooling, work and general independence in daily life in Afghanistan.
The Taliban government initially presented itself as more moderate than the version of the group that ruled in the 90s, even saying it would allow women to continue their education.
Instead, the hardline Islamist group has done an about-face and banned women from going to university, closed secondary schools and beauty salons, and stopped women from working at NGOs, including at the United Nations.
Now, top prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has applied for arrest warrants for two Taliban leaders in Afghanistan including supreme spiritual leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, accusing them of the persecution of women and girls.
The statement issued by the office of ICC Chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan said that investigators found reasonable grounds to believe that Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, who has served as chief justice since 2021, “bear criminal responsibility for the crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds.”
The statement said that they are “criminally responsible for persecuting Afghan girls and women … and persons whom the Taliban perceived as allies of girls and women.”
A three-judge panel at the ICC will now be expected to rule on the prosecution request, which has no set deadline.
Such procedures take an average of three months.
This is the first time ICC Prosecutors have publicly sought warrants in their investigation into potential war crimes in Afghanistan, which dates back to 2007 and once included alleged crimes by the US military there.
Khan said that his office was demonstrating its commitment to pursuing accountability for gender-based crimes and that the Taliban’s interpretation of Islamic sharia law could not be a justification for human rights abuses or crimes
“Afghan women and girls as well as the LGBTQI+ community are facing an unprecedented, unconscionable and ongoing persecution by the Taliban. Our action signals that the status quo for women and girls in Afghanistan is not acceptable.”
Karim Khan
The Prosecutor added that his office will soon seek further warrants for other senior members of the Taliban.
The news of the ICC action against two top Taliban officials was immediately welcomed by Afghan women and human rights campaigners.
Warrants To Have Little Impact On Akhundzada
Zalmai Nishat, Founder of the United Kingdom-based charity Mosaic Afghanistan, said that if ICC warrants were issued, it may have little impact on Akhundzada, who rarely travels outside Afghanistan.
“But in terms of international reputation of the Taliban, this basically means a complete erosion of their international legitimacy, if they had any.”
Zalmai Nishat
Khan’s move came amid a crisis at the court, which opened in The Hague in 2002 to prosecute individuals accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and aggression.
The administration of US President Donald Trump is preparing new sanctions against the court after it issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Moscow also struck back at the ICC for its 2023 warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes in Ukraine by issuing a warrant of its own for Khan.
Despite the recent string of high-profile arrest warrants, courtrooms in The Hague are virtually empty and Khan is under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct in the workplace, which he denies.
The ICC also has no police force and relies on its 125 member states to make arrests.But some European member states have expressed doubts about detaining Netanyahu.
Separately this week, Italy arrested an ICC suspect but failed to hand him over to the court.
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