Islamabad, Oct 6. (dpa/GNA) – Afghanistan’s Taliban government has rejected the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to unseal four arrest warrants against senior Taliban officials, dismissing the court’s authority and jurisdiction over Afghanistan.
“Afghanistan does not recognize any court under the title of the ‘International Court,’ nor does it attach any significance to its positions,” Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement late on Monday.
Mujahid said Taliban leaders had committed no acts warranting arrest or punishment by any court.
He said the Taliban administration was bound by Islamic Sharia and its judicial system, rather than by what he described as “intelligence entities or so-called courts.”
The ICC issued arrest warrants for four senior Taliban officials over alleged crimes against humanity through the systematic deprivation of rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.
The Taliban denies imposing a complete ban on women’s activities, pointing to religious schools for girls and saying women work in areas where their employment is needed and run private businesses.
The ICC’s decision was announced as Taliban Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, was in Moscow for a regional conference on Afghanistan.
GNA