The Hague – Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court on Thursday applied for arrest warrants for two Taliban leaders in Afghanistan, including supreme spiritual leader Haibatullah Ahunzada, and accused them of killing women and girls. He said he condemned the persecution.
A statement issued by Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said investigators found reasonable grounds to believe Akhanzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, who has been a Supreme Court judge since 2021.
They are “criminally responsible for the persecution of girls and women in Afghanistan…and those whom the Taliban perceive as allies of girls and women,” the statement said.
The persecution has been taking place across Afghanistan since at least August 15, 2021 – the day Taliban forces captured the capital Kabul – until today, prosecutors said.
Since returning to power in 2021, the Islamist group has clamped down on women’s rights, including limiting their schooling, work, and general independence in daily life.
There was no immediate comment by Taliban leaders on the prosecutor’s statement. This was welcomed by women’s rights groups.
Currently, up to the ICC’s three-judge panel will govern prosecutorial requests. Such a procedure takes an average of 3 months.
It was the first time the ICC prosecutor publicly sought a warrant in an investigation into potential war crimes in Afghanistan.
Khan said his office has demonstrated a commitment to pursuing accountability for gender-based crimes and that the Taliban’s interpretation of Islamic Sharia law does not justify human rights abuses or crimes.
“Afghan women and girls, and the LGBTQI+ community, face unprecedented, ruthless and continued persecution by the Taliban. Our actions will ensure that the current situation for Afghan women and girls is unacceptable. “This shows that there is no such thing,” the prosecutor said.
Zalmay Nishat, founder of the UK-based charity Mosaic Afghanistan, said if an ICC warrant were issued it would likely have little impact on Ahunzada, who rarely travels outside Afghanistan.
“But in terms of the Taliban’s international reputation, this basically means a complete erosion of their international legitimacy, if any,” he said.
Khan’s move comes amid an existential crisis at the court, which opened in The Hague in 2002 to prosecute individuals accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and attacks.
President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing new economic sanctions against IT for issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged crimes in the Gaza Strip.
Moscow returned to the ICC for a 2023 warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin by issuing its own warrant for Khan.
Despite a recent string of high-profile arrest warrants, The Hague courtrooms are virtually empty and Khan is under investigation for allegations of sexual misconduct in the workplace, which he denies.
The ICC has no police force and relies on its 125 member states to make arrests. However, several European member states have expressed doubts about detaining Netanyahu, and this week Italy arrested an ICC suspect but was unable to extradite him.
