The ICC prosecutor said he will seek arrest warrants against senior leaders of the Taliban government in Afghanistan over the persecution of women and girls.
Karim Khan said there are reasonable grounds to suspect that Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Supreme Court Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani bear criminal responsibility for crimes against humanity on the basis of gender.
ICC judges will now decide whether to issue an arrest warrant.
The ICC investigates and brings to justice those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and intervenes when national authorities are unable or unwilling to prosecute them.
Khan said in a statement that the two men are “criminally responsible for the persecution of Afghan girls and women, as well as people the Taliban consider to not conform to their ideological expectations regarding gender identity or expression, and people the Taliban consider allies.” Of girls and women.”
He added that opposition to the Taliban government “is being brutally repressed through crimes including murder, imprisonment, torture, rape, other forms of sexual violence, enforced disappearance and other inhumane acts.”
The statement said that persecution has been committed from at least August 15, 2021 to the present day throughout Afghanistan.
Akhundzada became the supreme commander of the Taliban in 2016, and is now the leader of the so-called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. In the 1980s, he participated in Islamic groups fighting against the Soviet military campaign in Afghanistan.
Haqqani was close to Taliban founder Mullah Omar and served as a negotiator on behalf of the Taliban during discussions with US representatives in 2020.
The Taliban government has not yet commented on the ICC's statement.
The Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in 2021, 20 years after the US-led invasion that toppled its regime in the fallout from the September 11 attacks in New York, but its government has not been officially recognized by any other foreign power.
Since then, “morality laws” have led to women losing dozens of rights in the country.
Afghanistan is now the only country in the world where women and girls are denied access to secondary and tertiary education – and nearly 1.5 million of them are deliberately denied an education.
The Taliban have repeatedly promised to readmit them to schools once a number of issues are resolved, including ensuring that the curriculum is “Islamic.” This has not happened yet.
Beauty salons were closed and women were prohibited from entering public parks, gyms and bathrooms.
The dress code means they must cover themselves completely, and strict rules prevent them from traveling without a male companion or looking a man in the eye unless they are related by blood or marriage.
In December, Women were also prohibited from training as midwives and nurseseffectively closing their last path to further education in the country.
