Prosecutor of the Ministry of Internal Affairs seeks arrest of Taliban leaders for “persecution of Afghan girls and women”

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) says he will seek arrest warrants for senior leaders of the Taliban government in Afghanistan for the persecution of women and girls.

Karim Khan said there are reasonable grounds to suspect that Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani are criminally responsible for gender-based crimes against humanity.

ICC judges will now decide whether to issue an arrest warrant.

The ICC investigates and prosecutes perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, intervening when national authorities are unable or unwilling to prosecute.

In a statement, Mr. Khan said the two men were criminally responsible for the persecution of Afghan girls and women, as well as those the Taliban deemed inconsistent with their ideological expectations of gender identity or expression, and those the Taliban considered allies. girls and women”.

Opposition to the Taliban government “is brutally suppressed through crimes including murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, enforced disappearances and other inhumane acts,” he added.

The persecution took place from at least August 15, 2021 until today across Afghanistan, the statement said.

Akhundzada became the Taliban’s supreme commander in 2016 and now heads the so-called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. In the 1980s, he participated in Islamist groups that fought against the Soviet military campaign in Afghanistan.

Haqqani was a close associate of Taliban founder Mullah Omar and acted as a negotiator on behalf of the Taliban during discussions with US officials in 2020.

The Taliban government has yet to comment on the ICC statement.

The Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in 2021, 20 years after a US-led invasion toppled their regime in the 9/11 attacks in New York, but its government has not been officially recognized by any other foreign power.

The “morality laws” since then have meant that women have lost dozens of rights in the country.

Currently, Afghanistan is the only country in the world where women and girls do not have access to secondary and higher education – about one and a half million are deliberately deprived of education.

The Taliban have repeatedly promised that they will be readmitted to the school once a number of issues are resolved – including ensuring that the curriculum is “Islamic”. This has not happened yet.

Beauty parlors were closed, and women were barred from public parks, gyms, and baths.

The dress code means they must be fully clothed, and strict rules prohibit them from traveling unaccompanied or making eye contact with men 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.