The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor, Karim Khan has requested the arrest of Taliban leaders for their role in the systemic oppression and persecution of women and girls in Afghanistan
Khan, who asked the judges to approve warrants for the group’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhunzada, and the head of Afghanistan’s Supreme Court, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, accused the men of crimes against humanity, including widespread discrimination against women.
The two Sunni Islamic fundamentalist Organization top officials, were alleged to have targeted Afghan girls and women, as well as individuals who did not align with the Taliban’s strict views on gender, including those who identified as LGBTQ+ or supported women’s rights.
In a statement issued by the office of the Chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan on Thursday, the evidence collected as part of investigations provided reasonable grounds to believe that Akhundzada and 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.
According to the prosecutor, the suit has taken place from at least Aug. 15, 2021, until the present day, across the territory of Afghanistan, and is ongoing.
Khan said his office was demonstrating its commitment to pursuing accountability for gender-based crimes and that the Taliban’s interpretation of sharia 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,” the prosecutor said.
It will now be up to a three-judge panel at the ICC to rule on the prosecution request, which has no set deadline. Such procedures take an average of three months.
Meanwhile, there was no immediate comment by Taliban leaders on the prosecutor’s statement.
In August last year, the Taliban codified a long set of rules governing morality in line with Islamic sharia law. The rules are enforced by the Morality Ministry, which says it has detained thousands of people for violations.
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 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.
