The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, announced this Thursday that he has requested arrest warrants for two high-ranking leaders of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, accused of crimes against humanity as well as the systematic violation of the fundamental rights of the country's girls and women.
On the bench of the accused are the supreme leader of the Taliban Haibatullah Akhundzada, as well as the Chief Justice of the «Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan», Abdul Hakim Haqqani.
Following an investigation conducted, according to Karim Khan, «with complete independence and impartiality», the Prosecutor considered that there are «reasonable grounds» establishing the responsibility of the two men for having «persecuted Afghan girls and women».
The two men are also accused of persecution against «people who did not fit their ideological conceptions of gender identity and expression and people they considered allies of girls and women».
The offences alleged against Akhundzada and Haqqani were reportedly committed from August 2021, when the Taliban recaptured power in Afghanistan, «and are currently continuing across the whole of Afghan territory,» the ICC Prosecutor specified.
Murders, rapes and enforced disappearances
According to the international magistrate, the persecution is characterised by numerous severe deprivations of the victims' fundamental rights, in violation of their right to physical integrity, bodily autonomy, freedom of movement and expression, education, private and family life, and the right to assembly.
Specifically, as the Prosecutor clarified, these crimes would in practice manifest as murders, imprisonment, torture, rape and enforced disappearances.
Further arrest warrants to come
These are the first applications for arrest warrants submitted by the International Criminal Court regarding the situation in Afghanistan. However, Karim Khan has announced that his office will soon submit others, also against senior Taliban officials.
The items of evidence available to the Office of the Prosecutor range from expert testimony and witness statements to the analysis of official Afghan decrees, forensic reports, statements made by suspects, and numerous audiovisual documents.
Women and the LGBTQI+ community
« With these new requests, my office intends to signal its determination to prosecute the perpetrators of gender-based crimes, including gender-based persecution, and to make it a top priority », Karim Khan stated in his press release.
« Afghan women and girls as well as members of the LGBTQI+ community are experiencing unprecedented and abject repeated persecution by the Taliban », he added.
The senior magistrate also considered that the Taliban's interpretation of Islamic Sharia could under no circumstances justify the commission of such crimes, which he stated fall under the Rome Statute, the founding charter of the ICC.
Victim resilience
The Prosecutor finally paid tribute to the «remarkable courage and resilience» of the Afghan victims and witnesses who cooperated with his office as part of the investigation.
« It is now up to the judges of the International Criminal Court to determine whether these requests for arrest warrants provide reasonable grounds to believe that the individuals concerned have committed the alleged crimes », concluded the ICC Prosecutor.
Should that be the case, Karim Khan has called on States Parties to the Rome Statute to cooperate with the Court in order to effect the arrest of the individuals concerned.
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