International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Taliban leaders over persecution of women
The court said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhunzada and the chief justice of the Taliban, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, had committed the crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds against girls and women.
The warrants also accuse the leaders of persecuting "other persons nonconforming with the Taliban's policy on gender, gender identity or expression; and on political grounds against persons perceived as 'allies of girls and women'".
Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, it has clamped down on women's rights, banning women from public places and girls from attending school beyond the sixth grade.
It is the first time judges of the ICC have issued a warrant on charges of gender 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.
It said the Taliban had "severely deprived, through decrees and edicts, girls and women of the rights to education, privacy and family life and the freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience and religion".
The full warrants and details on the specific incidents they are based on remained under seal to protect witnesses and victims, the ICC said.
The ICC's prosecution office called the decision to issue warrants "an important vindication and acknowledgement of the rights of Afghan women and girls".
It added that the judges' ruling "also recognises the rights and lived experiences of persons whom the Taliban perceived as not conforming with their ideological expectations of gender identity or expression, such as members of the LGBTQI+ community, and persons whom the Taliban perceived as allies of girls and women".
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".
The Taliban condemned the warrants as an example of hostility towards Islam.
"We neither recognise anything by the name of an international court nor do we consider ourselves bound by it," the Taliban government's spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said in a statement.
The warrants came just hours after the United Nations adopted a resolution that called on the Taliban to reverse their worsening oppression of women and girls and eliminate all terrorist organisations.
NGOs hailed the warrants and called on the international community to back the ICC's work in Afghanistan.
Human Rights Watch International justice director Liz Evenson said in a statement that nations should make concerted efforts to enforce the court's warrants.
ICC judges approved a request in 2022 from the prosecutor to reopen an investigation into Afghanistan.
The probe had been shelved after Kabul said it could handle the investigation, but Mr Khan said he wanted to reopen the inquiry because, under the Taliban, there was "no longer the prospect of genuine and effective domestic investigations" in Afghanistan.
The ICC has been under increased criticism from non-member states such as the United States, Israel and Russia.
Last year, the court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza conflict.
The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2023 on suspicion of deporting children from Ukraine.
Neither Russia nor Israel is a member of the court and both deny the accusations and reject ICC jurisdiction.
Last week, Russia became the first country to formally recognise the Taliban's government.
AP/Reuters
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


West Australian
3 days ago
- West Australian
Outrage after Afghan man, 45, marries 6yo child bride as Taliban say he can't have her until she's nine
A 45-year-old Afghan man has caused global outrage after he married a six-year-old girl. The man, who already has two wives, reportedly paid the little girl's family money to take her as his bride. Hasht-e Subh Daily , an independent Afghan media outlet operating in exile, reported the sickening case had even forced the Taliban to intervene. Sources had said that while the Islamic rulers had made no official comment about the marriage in Helmand's Marjah district, the Taliban was currently preventing the girl from being transported to the man's house. The man has reportedly been told he must 'wait until the girl turns nine before bringing her home'. Child marriages have soared in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, clamping down on women's rights, including limiting their schooling, work and independence in daily life. It is especially rife in villages where poverty abounds. 'There are many families in our village who have given away their daughters for money. No one helps them. People are desperate,' said Mahbob, a community activist told The Afghan Times . Before the Taliban seized back power, Afghan civil law set the minimum age for marriage at 16 years for girls and at 18 years for boys. since they have been in power a minimum age for marriage has not been set. A UN Women report said 28.7 per cent of girls in Afghanistan under the age of 18 years were married — 9.6 per cent of those aged under 15. 'Statistical modelling shows the ban on Afghan girls education after primary school is estimated to be associated with an increase of the rate of child marriage by 25 per cent. This would put 37.5 per cent of Afghan girls at risk of child marriage,' the report read. Child marriage has been shown to lead to increased likelihood that a girl or woman will experience domestic violence, have limited access to reproductive health services, and receive only lower levels of education. Earlier this month the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for two Taliban leaders, including supreme spiritual leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, accusing them of the persecution of women and girls. The ICC said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, chief justice of the Taliban, had committed the crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds against girls, women and other persons non-conforming with the Taliban's policy on gender, gender identity or expression.


Perth Now
3 days ago
- Perth Now
Outrage after Afghan man, 45, marries six-year-old
A 45-year-old Afghan man has caused global outrage after he married a six-year-old girl. The man, who already has two wives, reportedly paid the little girl's family money to take her as his bride. Hasht-e Subh Daily, an independent Afghan media outlet operating in exile, reported the sickening case had even forced the Taliban to intervene. Sources had said that while the Islamic rulers had made no official comment about the marriage in Helmand's Marjah district, the Taliban was currently preventing the girl from being transported to the man's house. The man has reportedly been told he must 'wait until the girl turns nine before bringing her home'. Child marriages have soared in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, clamping down on women's rights, including limiting their schooling, work and independence in daily life. It is especially rife in villages where poverty abounds. 'There are many families in our village who have given away their daughters for money. No one helps them. People are desperate,' said Mahbob, a community activist told The Afghan Times. Child marriages have soared in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. Credit: Unknown / X Before the Taliban seized back power, Afghan civil law set the minimum age for marriage at 16 years for girls and at 18 years for boys. since they have been in power a minimum age for marriage has not been set. A UN Women report said 28.7 per cent of girls in Afghanistan under the age of 18 years were married — 9.6 per cent of those aged under 15. 'Statistical modelling shows the ban on Afghan girls education after primary school is estimated to be associated with an increase of the rate of child marriage by 25 per cent. This would put 37.5 per cent of Afghan girls at risk of child marriage,' the report read. Child marriage has been shown to lead to increased likelihood that a girl or woman will experience domestic violence, have limited access to reproductive health services, and receive only lower levels of education. Earlier this month the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for two Taliban leaders, including supreme spiritual leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, accusing them of the persecution of women and girls. The ICC said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, chief justice of the Taliban, had committed the crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds against girls, women and other persons non-conforming with the Taliban's policy on gender, gender identity or expression.

ABC News
3 days ago
- ABC News
Bangladesh's ousted PM Sheikh Hasina indicted on charges of crimes against humanity
A special tribunal has indicted Bangladesh's ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, accepting charges of crimes against humanity filed against her over a mass uprising in which hundreds of students were killed last year. In February, the UN human rights office estimated up to 1,400 people may have been killed in Bangladesh over three weeks of crackdowns on the student-led protests against Ms Hasina and two weeks after her fall on August 5. A three-member panel indicted Ms Hasina, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun on five charges. The tribunal opened the trial on June 5, and Ms Hasina and Mr Khan are being tried in their absence. Responding to the panel's decision, Ms Hasina's Awami League party condemned the trial process and said the tribunal was a "kangaroo" court. Authorities published newspaper advertisements asking Ms Hasina, who has been in exile in India since August 5, and Mr Khan to appear before the tribunal. Bangladesh's interim government, headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, sent a formal request to India for Ms Hasina's extradition, but India has not responded. Mr Khan is possibly also in India. The prosecution offered a leaked audio of Ms Hasina and other documents as evidence to the tribunal. Mr Al-Mamun, who was arrested and appeared before the panel on Thursday, pleaded guilty and told the tribunal he would make a statement in favour of the prosecution at a later stage. Muhammad Tajul Islam, chief prosecutor at the ICT, told reporters that Mr Al-Mamun had agreed to assist the court by acting as a witness, giving "all the knowledge he has regarding the crimes committed during the July-August uprising". The court has approved separate accommodation to ensure Mr Al-Mamun's safety. The tribunal on Thursday also rejected defence lawyers' request to have the charges against Ms Hasina and her home minister Asaduzzaman Khan dismissed. The tribunal set August 3 for the opening statement by the prosecution and August 4 for recording witness statements. In a post on X, the Awami League accused the Yunus-led administration of manipulating the judiciary. "People have lost their faith over the judicial system as Yunus regime has reduced this key state organ into a means to prosecute dissenters," it said. "We condemn in strongest term the indictment against our party president and other leaders as we assert that this step marks another testament to the ongoing witch hunt against our party and weaponisation of judiciary by Yunus regime." Ms Hasina and the Awami League has previously criticised the tribunal and its prosecution team for connections to political parties, especially the Jamaat-e-Islami party. Filing five charges, the prosecution argued Ms Hasina was directly responsible for ordering all state forces, her Awami League party and its associates to carry out actions leading to mass killings, injuries, targeted violence against women and children, the incineration of bodies and denial of medical treatment to the wounded. The charges describe Ms Hasina as the "mastermind, conductor, and superior commander" of the atrocities. The interim government has banned the Awami League party and amended relevant laws to allow the trial of the former ruling party for its role during the uprising. Ms Hasina was already convicted of contempt of court in a separate case on July 2, receiving a six-month sentence. AP/AFP