ICC prosecutor applies for arrest warrants for two Taliban leaders

Prosecutor Karim Khan says determination are tenable grounds to judge crimes against humanity are being committed against women and girls successful Afghanistan.

The apical authoritative astatine the International Criminal Court (ICC) has applied for apprehension warrants for 2 Taliban leaders successful Afghanistan including ultimate spiritual person Haibatullah Akhundzada, accusing them of the persecution of women and girls.

A connection issued by the bureau of ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan connected Thursday said investigators recovered tenable grounds to judge that Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, who has served arsenic main justness since 2021, “bear transgression work for the transgression against humanity of persecution connected sex grounds”.

They are “criminally liable for persecuting Afghan girls and women … and persons whom the Taliban perceived arsenic allies of girls and women”, the connection said.

There was nary contiguous remark by Taliban leaders connected the prosecutor’s statement.

Since the Taliban’s instrumentality to powerfulness successful 2021, it has clamped down connected women’s rights, including limits to schooling, enactment and wide independency successful regular life.

A three-judge sheet astatine the ICC volition present beryllium expected to regularisation connected the prosecution request, which has nary acceptable deadline. Such procedures instrumentality an mean of 3 months.

This is the archetypal clip ICC prosecutors person publically sought warrants successful their probe into imaginable warfare crimes successful Afghanistan, which dates backmost to 2007 and erstwhile included alleged crimes by the US subject there.

Khan said that his bureau was demonstrating its committedness to pursuing accountability for gender-based crimes and that the Taliban’s mentation of Islamic sharia instrumentality could not beryllium a justification for quality rights abuses oregon crimes.

“Afghan women and girls arsenic good arsenic the LGBTQI+ assemblage are facing an unprecedented, unconscionable and ongoing persecution by the Taliban. Our enactment signals that the presumption quo for women and girls successful Afghanistan is not acceptable,” the authoritative said.

Zalmai Nishat, laminitis of the United Kingdom-based foundation Mosaic Afghanistan, said that if ICC warrants were issued, it whitethorn person small interaction connected Akhundzada, who seldom travels extracurricular Afghanistan.

“But successful presumption of planetary estimation of the Taliban, this fundamentally means a implicit erosion of their planetary legitimacy, if they had any,” helium said.

‘Existential situation astatine the ICC?’

Khan’s determination came amid a situation astatine the court, which opened successful The Hague successful 2002 to prosecute individuals accused of warfare crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and aggression.

The medication of US President Donald Trump is preparing caller sanctions against the tribunal aft it issued an apprehension warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged warfare crimes successful Gaza.

Moscow besides struck backmost astatine the ICC for its 2023 warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged warfare crimes successful Ukraine by issuing a warrant of its ain for Khan.

Despite the caller drawstring of high-profile apprehension warrants, courtrooms successful The Hague are virtually bare and Khan is nether probe for alleged intersexual misconduct successful the workplace, which helium denies.

The ICC besides has nary constabulary unit and relies connected its 125 subordinate states to marque arrests.

But immoderate European subordinate states person expressed doubts astir detaining Netanyahu. Separately this week, Italy arrested an ICC fishy but failed to manus him implicit to the court.