The International Criminal Court (ICC) has applied for arrest warrants for two top Taliban leaders in Afghanistan, including the group’s supreme spiritual leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, accusing them of the systematic persecution of women and girls, Al Jazeera reports.
ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan announced on Thursday that his office has found “reasonable grounds” to believe that Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the Taliban’s chief justice since 2021, bear criminal responsibility for the crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds.
Since reclaiming power in Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban has severely restricted women’s rights, imposing limitations on education, employment, and overall independence in daily life.
A three-judge panel at the ICC will now review the prosecution’s request, with no set deadline for a ruling. Such procedures typically take around three months. This marks the first time the ICC has publicly sought arrest warrants in its investigation into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan, which commenced in 2007 and initially encompassed alleged crimes by US military personnel.
Prosecutor Khan stated that his office is committed to holding individuals accountable for gender-based crimes and emphasized that the Taliban’s interpretation of Islamic Sharia law cannot justify human rights abuses.
Khan’s move comes amid a period of crisis at the ICC, which was established in The Hague in 2002 to prosecute individuals accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and aggression.
The administration of US President Donald Trump is reportedly preparing new sanctions against the court following its issuance of an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, citing alleged war crimes in Gaza. Moscow has also retaliated against the ICC for its 2023 warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes in Ukraine by issuing its own warrant for Khan’s arrest.
Despite the recent string of high-profile arrest warrants, the ICC courtrooms remain largely empty. Furthermore, Prosecutor Khan is under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct in the workplace, allegations he has denied. The ICC, lacking its own police force, relies on its 125 member states to make arrests. However, doubts about detaining Netanyahu have surfaced amongst some European member states. Additionally, earlier this week, Italy arrested an ICC suspect but failed to hand him over to the court.
