The International Criminal Court prosecutor on Thursday said he had applied for arrest
warrants for Taliban leaders in Afghanistan, including supreme spiritual leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, accusing them of crimes against humanity for widespread discrimination against women and girls.
A statement issued by the office of chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said evidence collected as part of investigations provided 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.”
They are “criminally responsible for persecuting Afghan girls and women, as well as persons whom the Taliban perceived as not conforming with their ideological expectations of gender identity or expression, and persons whom the Taliban perceived as allies of girls and women,” the statement said.
The persecution has taken place from at least 15 August 2021 until the present day, across the territory of Afghanistan and is ongoing, the prosecutor said.
The Afghanistan probe is one of the longest by ICC prosecutors and has been beset by legal and practical delays. The initial preliminary examination started in 2007 and it was
only in 2022 that a full-scale investigation has moved forward.
Since Afghanistan’s Islamist Taliban returned to power in 2021 it has clamped down on women’s rights, including limits to schooling, work and general independence in daily life.
In fact the Afghan women’s cricket team had to flee the country as the Taliban took over, with most of them now in Australia.
The Taliban government has persisted with its policies despite widespread international criticism and the world holding back from giving the Taliban formal diplomatic recognition.
US President Donald Trump has hinted that the days of giving aid to Afghanistan maybe coming to an end and any future financial assistance could be conditional on returning US military equipment left behind as the Taliban moved into Kabul.
But the issue of Afghan women, although not mentioned by Trump, is something he may find difficult to ignore.
With Reuters inputs
