Amsterdam, July 9, (dpa/GNA) – The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for the Taliban’s supreme leader and chief justice, accusing them of persecuting girls and women in Afghanistan.
The UN court in The Hague said there were reasonable grounds to conclude that Supreme Leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, had engaged in “systemic” gender-based violence since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
The two are further accused of persecuting “other persons non-conforming with the Taliban’s policy on gender” and those “perceived as ‘allies of girls and women,'” the statement from the court on Tuesday said.
“While the Taliban have imposed certain rules and prohibitions on the population as a whole, they have specifically targeted girls and women by reason of their gender, depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms,” the statement continued, calling this a crime against humanity.
Under the Taliban, women are prohibited from accessing education from the seventh grade onwards. In December, the Islamists also banned women from training in the medical field, although some schools still offer lessons for older girls contrary to the order.
According to a report released by the UN in June, nearly 80% of all women under 30 years old are excluded from education or work under the Taliban.
ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan requested the arrest warrants in January. Witness accounts, official decrees, videos and statements by the Taliban were all cited as evidence. The Taliban rejected the allegations, claiming the prosecution was politically motivated and had no legal basis.
The International Criminal Court does not have its own police force, and is dependent on the assistance of its signatory states to enforce the arrest warrants.
Once the suspects are on their territory, a state is obliged to arrest them and hand them over to the court.
GNA