Politics World criminal court wants to prosecute Taliban leadership in Afghanistan
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, has applied for arrest warrants against top Taliban leaders in Afghanistan.
23.01.2025, 15:45
SDA
The top Taliban leader Haibatullah Achundsada and the chief judge, Abdul Hakim Hakkani, are to be prosecuted for oppression and persecution of Afghan women and girls since 2021, Khan announced in The Hague.
After the Islamist Taliban seized power again in 2021, women and girls in particular were victims of "indescribable persecution", Khan said.
They had been deprived of their freedom and basic rights, such as the right to control their bodies, freedom of movement, the right to education and the right to a private and family life. Alleged resistance and opposition were brutally suppressed by the Taliban with murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence.
Further arrest warrants expected
The prosecutor refers to numerous pieces of evidence such as witness statements, official decrees, videos and statements by the Taliban. Judges still have to approve the applications.
Khan intends to apply for further arrest warrants against leading Taliban members shortly. The prosecutor had resumed investigations into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan in 2022.
The court itself has no means of executing arrest warrants. However, its contracting states are obliged to arrest wanted persons if they are on their territory.
Achundsada has been the supreme leader of the Taliban since 2016. Since the Islamists came to power, he has reportedly been staying in the southern city of Kandahar rather than in the capital Kabul.
He rarely appears in public, and when he does, pictures of him are prohibited. Hakkani has been the country's chief justice since October 2021 and is said to be the most influential religious leader among the Islamists.
