ICC seeks arrest of Taliban leaders over alleged persecution of women
ICC judges on Tuesday said there were 'reasonable grounds' to suspect Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani of committing gender-based persecution.
'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 court said in a statement.
The Taliban had 'severely deprived' girls and women of the rights to education, privacy and family life and the freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience and religion, ICC judges said.
'In addition, other persons were targeted because certain expressions of sexuality and/or gender identity were regarded as inconsistent with the Taliban's policy on gender.'
The court said the alleged crimes had been committed between August 15, 2021, when the Taliban seized power, and continued until at least January 20, 2025.
The court's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, sought the warrants in January, saying that they recognised that 'Afghan women and girls as well as the LGBTQI+ community are facing an unprecedented, unconscionable and ongoing persecution by the Taliban'.
UK-based rights group Amnesty International welcomed the move by the ICC, saying it was an 'important step towards justice'.
'The announcement is an important development that gives hope, inside and outside the country to Afghan women, girls, as well as those persecuted on the basis of gender identity or expression,' Amnesty International chief Agnes Callamard said in a statement.
'This is a crucial step to hold accountable all those allegedly responsible for the gender-based deprivation of fundamental rights to education, to free movement and free expression, to private and family life, to free assembly, and to physical integrity and autonomy.'
The US-based Human Rights Watch also welcomed the decision.
'Senior Taliban leaders are now wanted men for their alleged persecution of women, girls, and gender non-conforming people. The international community should fully back the ICC in its critical work in Afghanistan and globally, including through concerted efforts to enforce the court's warrants,' Liz Evenson, the group's international justice director, said in a statement.
The ICC, based in The Hague, was set up to rule on the world's worst crimes, such as war crimes and crimes against humanity. It has no police force of its own and relies on member states to carry out its arrest warrants – with mixed results.
In theory, this means anyone subject to an ICC arrest warrant cannot travel to a member state for fear of being detained.
Last year, the United Nations accused the Taliban government of barring at least 1.4 million girls of their right to an education during their time in power.
Taking into account the number of girls not going to school before the group came to power, the UN said 80 percent of Afghan school-age girls – a total of 2.5 million – were being denied their right to an education.
Authorities also imposed restrictions on women working for non-governmental groups and other employment, with thousands of women losing government jobs.
Beauty salons have been closed and women blocked from visiting public parks and gyms as well as travelling long distances without a male chaperone.
A 'vice and virtue' law announced last summer ordered women not to sing or recite poetry in public and for their voices and bodies to be 'concealed' outside the home.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
10 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Cambodia passes constitutional change allowing gov't to revoke citizenship
Lawmakers in Cambodia have amended the country's constitution to allow legislation that would see citizenship stripped from those deemed to have colluded with foreign powers. The constitutional change, which was unanimously supported by 125 politicians in the National Assembly on Friday, has drawn criticism from rights groups, which have expressed concern that it could be used to target political opponents. The government said it will soon make use of the amendment. Justice Minister Koeut Rith confirmed that a new citizenship revocation bill would be swiftly brought before parliament. 'If you betray the nation, the nation will not keep you,' he said before dismissing critics' unease about the move. The justice minister claimed that those who have not harmed the national interests will not be stripped of their citizenship, adding that they might still 'face other charges'. Before Friday's vote, the constitution specified that Khmer citizens could lose their citizenship only 'through mutual agreement'. However, after being revised, Article 33 of the constitution now states that 'receiving, losing and revoking Khmer nationality shall be determined by law'. Amnesty International condemned the change on Friday, urging the international community to criticise Cambodia over the decision. 'As the proposal moves closer to becoming reality, anyone who speaks out against or opposes the ruling party will be at risk of having their citizenship revoked,' the NGO's regional research director, Montse Ferrer, said. 'We are deeply concerned that the Cambodian government, given the power to strip people of their citizenship, will misuse it to crack down on its critics and make them stateless.' Last month, Hun Sen, the influential former Cambodian prime minister, called for the constitution to be changed so Cambodians could be stripped of their citizenship. This came after exiled opposition figures condemned the government over its ongoing border dispute with Thailand. Former opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who lives in exile to avoid being sent to prison, was among those Hun Sen accused of speaking against the interests of the nation.
Al Jazeera
15 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Rohingya refugees in peril in Bangladesh as support wanes: UN
The plight of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh could rapidly deteriorate further unless more funding can be secured for critical assistance services, according to the United Nations refugee agency. Bangladesh has registered its biggest influx of Myanmar's largest Muslim minority over the past 18 months since a mass exodus from an orchestrated campaign of death, rape and persecution nearly a decade ago by Myanmar's military. 'There is a huge gap in terms of what we need and what resources are available. These funding gaps will affect the daily living of Rohingya refugees as they depend on humanitarian support on a daily basis for food, health and education,' United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Babar Baloch told reporters in Geneva on Friday. The humanitarian sector has been roiled by funding reductions from major donors, led by the United States under President Donald Trump and other Western countries, as they prioritise defence spending prompted by growing concerns over Russia and China. Baloch added: 'With the acute global funding crisis, the critical needs of both newly arrived refugees and those already present will be unmet, and essential services for the whole Rohingya refugee population are at risk of collapsing unless additional funds are secured.' If not enough funding is secured, health services will be severely disrupted by September, and by December, essential food assistance will stop, said the UNHCR, which says that its appeal for $255m has only been 35 percent funded. In March, the World Food Programme announced that 'severe funding shortfalls' for Rohingya were forcing a cut in monthly food vouchers from $12.50 to $6 per person. More than one million Rohingya have been crammed into camps in southeastern Bangladesh, the world's largest refugee settlement. Most fled the brutal crackdown in 2017 by Myanmar's military, although some have been there for longer. These camps cover an area of just 24 square kilometres (nine square miles) and have become 'one of the world's most densely populated places', said Baloch. Continued violence and persecution against the Rohingya, a mostly Muslim minority in mainly Buddhist Myanmar's western Rakhine state, have kept forcing thousands to seek protection across the border in Bangladesh, according to the UNHCR. At least 150,000 Rohingya refugees have arrived in Cox's Bazar in southeast Bangladesh over the past 18 months. The Rohingya refugees also face institutionalised discrimination in Myanmar and most are denied citizenship. 'Targeted violence and persecution in Rakhine State and the ongoing conflict in Myanmar have continued to force thousands of Rohingya to seek protection in Bangladesh,' said Baloch. 'This movement of Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh, spread over months, is the largest from Myanmar since 2017, when some 750,000 fled the deadly violence in their native Rakhine State.' Baloch also hailed Muslim-majority Bangladesh for generously hosting Rohingya refugees for generations.
Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Al Jazeera
‘Crimes against humanity' in Sudan's Darfur: ICC deputy prosecutor
A senior International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor has concluded that there are 'reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity' are being committed in war-ravaged Sudan's western Darfur region. ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan presented her assessment before the United Nations Security Council on Thursday of the devastating conflict, which has raged since 2023, killing more than 40,000 people and displacing 13 million others. Khan said the depth of suffering and the humanitarian crisis in Darfur 'has reached an intolerable state', with famine escalating and hospitals, humanitarian convoys and other civilian infrastructure being targeted. She said it was 'difficult to find appropriate words to describe the depth of suffering in Darfur'. 'On the basis of our independent investigations, the position of our office is clear. We have reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity have been and are continuing to be committed in Darfur,' she said. The prosecutor's office focused its probe on crimes committed in West Darfur, Khan said, interviewing victims who fled to neighbouring Chad. She detailed an 'intolerable' humanitarian situation, with apparent targeting of hospitals and humanitarian convoys, while warning that 'famine is escalating' as aid is unable to reach 'those in dire need'. 'People are being deprived of water and food. Rape and sexual violence are being weaponised,' Khan said, adding that abductions for ransom had become 'common practice'. In June, the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan warned that both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had escalated the use of heavy weaponry in populated areas and weaponised humanitarian relief, amid the devastating consequences of the civil war. ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan had told the Security Council in January that there were grounds to believe both parties may be committing war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide in the region, while the administration of then-US President Joe Biden determined that the RSF and its proxies were committing genocide. The Security Council had previously referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC in 2005, with some 300,000 people killed during conflict in the region in the 2000s. In 2023, the ICC opened a new probe into war crimes in Darfur after a new conflict erupted between the SAF and RSF. The RSF's predecessor, the Janjaweed militia, was accused of genocide two decades ago in the vast western region. ICC judges are expected to deliver their first decision on crimes committed in Darfur two decades ago in the case of Ali Mohamed Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, known as Ali Kosheib, after the trial ended in 2024. 'I wish to be clear to those on the ground in Darfur now, to those who are inflicting unimaginable atrocities on its population – they may feel a sense of impunity at this moment, as Ali Kosheib may have felt in the past,' said Khan. 'But we are working intensively to ensure that the Ali Kosheib trial represents only the first of many in relation to this situation at the International Criminal Court,' added Khan.
