The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for the leaders of the Taliban for persecuting women and girls. The warrants were issued against Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhunzada and the Chief Justice of the Taliban, Abdul Hakim Haqqani.
According to the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber II, there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that the leaders persecuted women, girls, and “other persons non-conforming with the Taliban’s policy on gender, gender identity or expression; and on political grounds against persons perceived as ‘allies of girls and women.'”
The crimes are believed to have been committed since the Taliban seized control in 2021.
“Pre-Trial Chamber II considered that the Taliban have implemented a governmental policy that resulted in severe violations of fundamental rights and freedoms of the civilian population of Afghanistan, in connection with conducts of murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and enforced disappearance,” the ICC said, going to state that the Taliban has “specifically targeted girls and women by reason of their gender, depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms,” including those regarding “education, privacy and family life and the freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience and religion.”
The ICC noted that the information was made public in order to “contribute to the prevention of the further commission of these crimes.”
In a statement obtained by the BBC, the Taliban said it does not recognize the ICC and labeled the arrest warrants “a clear act of hostility.”
Earlier this year, Karim Khan, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, temporarily stepped down following allegations of sexual misconduct under investigation by the United Nations (UN).
