THE HAGUE: The Worldwide Felony Court docket prosecutor stated on Thursday (Jan 23) he had utilized for arrest warrants for 2 Taliban leaders in Afghanistan together with supreme religious chief Haibatullah Akhundzada, accusing them of crimes in opposition to humanity for widespread discrimination in opposition to girls and ladies.
An announcement issued by the workplace of chief Prosecutor Karim Khan stated proof collected as a part of investigations offered affordable grounds to consider that Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, who has served as chief justice since 2021, “bear felony duty for the crime in opposition to humanity of persecution on gender grounds.”
They’re “criminally chargeable for persecuting Afghan women and girls, in addition to individuals whom the Taliban perceived as not conforming with their ideological expectations of gender id or expression, and individuals whom the Taliban perceived as allies of women and girls,” the assertion stated.
The persecution has taken place from at the very least Aug 15, 2021 till the current day, throughout the territory of Afghanistan and is ongoing, the prosecutor stated.
There was no rapid remark by Taliban leaders on the prosecutor’s assertion.
It should now be as much as a three-judge panel on the ICC to rule on the prosecution request, which has no set deadline. Such procedures take a median of three months.
In August final 12 months, the Taliban codified a protracted algorithm governing morality according to Islamic sharia legislation. The principles are enforced by the morality ministry, which says it has detained 1000’s of individuals for violations.
Khan stated his workplace was demonstrating its dedication to pursuing accountability for gender-based crimes and that the Taliban’s interpretation of sharia couldn’t be a justification for human rights abuses or crimes.
“Afghan girls and ladies in addition to the LGBTQI+ group are dealing with an unprecedented, unconscionable and ongoing persecution by the Taliban. Our motion indicators that the established order for ladies and ladies in Afghanistan will not be acceptable,” the prosecutor stated.
The Afghanistan probe is likely one of the longest by ICC prosecutors and has been beset by authorized and sensible delays. The preliminary preliminary examination began in 2007 and it was solely in 2022 {that a} full-scale investigation moved ahead.
Since Afghanistan’s Islamist Taliban returned to energy in 2021 it has clamped down on girls’s rights, together with limits to education, work and common independence in every day life.
