ICC prosecutor calls for arrest of Taliban leaders for ‘persecuting Afghan girls and women’

The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) says he will seek arrest warrants for senior leaders of the Taliban government in Afghanistan for the persecution of women and girls.

Karim Khan said there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and the chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani are guilty of crimes against humanity because of their gender.

ICC judges will now decide whether to issue an arrest warrant.

The ICC investigates and brings to justice those accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, intervening where national authorities cannot or will not prosecute.

In a statement, Mr Khan said the two men were “responsible for persecuting Afghan girls and women, as well as people the Taliban see as incompatible with their views of gender identity or expression, and people the Taliban see as friends. girls and women”.

Opposition to the Taliban government “has been brutally suppressed by committing crimes including murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, enforced disappearances, and other brutal acts”, he added.

The persecution was carried out from at least August 15, 2021 until today, throughout Afghanistan, the statement said.

Akhundzada became the supreme commander of the Taliban in 2016, and is now the leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. In the 1980s, he participated in Islamic groups fighting the Soviet military campaign in Afghanistan.

Haqqani was a close friend of Taliban founder Mullah Omar and served as a mediator on behalf of the Taliban during talks with American representatives in 2020.

The Taliban government is yet to comment on the ICC statement.

The Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in 2021, 20 years after a US-led invasion toppled their regime in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in New York, but their government has yet to be officially recognized by any foreign power.

“Codes of conduct” have since meant that women have lost many of their rights in the country.

Afghanistan is now the only country in the world where women and girls are prevented from accessing secondary and tertiary education – another one and a half million have been deliberately deprived of education.

The Taliban have repeatedly promised to re-admit the school once a number of issues are resolved – including ensuring that the curriculum is “Islamic”. This has not happened yet.

Hair salons are closed and women are banned from public parks, gyms and baths.

The dress code means they must be fully covered and strict rules prevent them from walking around without a male guardian or making eye contact with a man unless they are related by blood or marriage.

In December, women were also prevented from training as midwives and nursesthey have successfully closed their last avenue of further education in the country.