ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrant against Taliban leaders for persecuting Afghan women

The Taliban’s leaders could look apprehension for enacting repressive policies against girls and women successful Afghanistan, the International Criminal Court’s main authoritative said connected Thursday.

Karim Khan said helium had asked the ICC to o.k. apprehension warrants for the group’s ultimate person Hibatullah Akhundzada and Supreme Court caput Abdul Hakim Haqqani who person been accused of crimes against humanity for gender-based persecution.

If issued, the warrants would beryllium the archetypal planetary acknowledgment of the Taliban’s persecution of Afghan women.

"These applications recognise that Afghan women and girls arsenic good arsenic the LGBTQI+ assemblage are facing an unprecedented, unconscionable and ongoing persecution by the Taliban," Mr Khan said. The ICC would beryllium considering attacks connected the LGBTQ+ assemblage arsenic a transgression against humanity for the archetypal clip successful its history.

“My bureau has concluded that these 2 Afghan nationals are criminally liable for persecuting Afghan girls and women, arsenic good arsenic persons whom the Taliban perceived arsenic not conforming to their ideological expectations of sex individuality oregon expression, and persons whom the Taliban perceived arsenic allies of girls and women,” Mr Khan said successful a connection connected Thursday, referring to the Taliban leaders.

Such persecution by the Taliban leaders was “committed from astatine slightest 15 August 2021 until the contiguous time crossed the territory of Afghanistan”.

The Taliban person barred girls and women from schoolhouse beyond sixth grade, colleges, universities arsenic good arsenic astir nationalist spaces. In December, an edict issued by Akhundzada banned buildings from having windows and immoderate exterior places from wherever a pistillate could beryllium seen from the outside.

The Islamist group, which seized powerfulness successful Afghanistan implicit 3 years agone aft the illness of the Nato-backed government, has invoked its mentation of the Islamic instrumentality to enforce harsh diktats against astir 20 cardinal Afghan women.

Mr Khan said his bureau would not let the Sharia instrumentality to beryllium weaponised for violations of quality rights. “My bureau further submits that the Taliban’s mentation of Sharia should not and whitethorn not beryllium utilized to warrant the deprivation of cardinal quality rights oregon the related committee of Rome Statute crimes,” helium said.

The Taliban person not reacted to Mr Khan’s statement. The Independent has contacted Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid for a comment.

Human rights groups welcomed the ICC prosecutor’s determination against the Taliban leadership.

"Their systematic violations of women and girls’ rights, including acquisition bans, and the suppression of those speaking up for women’s rights, person accelerated with implicit impunity. With nary justness successful show successful Afghanistan, the warrant requests connection an indispensable pathway to a measurement of accountability," said Liz Evenson, planetary justness manager astatine Human Rights Watch.

While determination is nary deadline for the ICC to regularisation connected the prosecutor’s petition for a warrant, the determination typically takes astir 4 months. If issued, the Taliban leaders named successful the warrant could beryllium arrested if they measurement ft successful an ICC subordinate nation.

It took a pre-trial ICC enclosure 3 weeks to contented an apprehension warrant for Russian president Vladimir Putin successful 2023 but six months successful the lawsuit of Israeli premier curate Benjamin Netanyahu past year.