THE HAGUE, Netherlands — On Thursday, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced his solicitation for arrest warrants targeting two high-ranking Taliban officials for their actions against women.
Karim Khan issued a statement revealing that he had formally requested judges to approve warrants for Hibatullah Akhunzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader, and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, head of Afghanistan’s Supreme Court. The prosecutor has accused these individuals of committing crimes against humanity, specifically for their gender-based persecution.
“These applications recognize the harsh reality that Afghan women and girls, alongside the LGBTQI+ community, are currently subjected to extraordinary and unacceptable persecution by the Taliban,” Khan emphasized.
Since regaining control over Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban regime has imposed severe restrictions on women, barring them from employment, limiting their presence in public venues, and obstructing access to education beyond the sixth grade. Notably, Akhunzada previously ordered that buildings must not have windows that overlook areas designated for women, further entrenching their isolation.
No immediate response was made available from the Taliban government regarding these developments.
Human rights organizations expressed their support for the actions taken by the ICC against the individuals in Taliban leadership.
“The systematic violations of rights endured by women and girls, such as the bans on education and the suppression of advocates for women’s rights, have reached alarming levels without accountability. Given the absence of justice in Afghanistan, the requests for warrants provide a crucial avenue toward accountability,” stated Liz Evenson, who serves as the international justice director at Human Rights Watch.
This announcement marks a significant milestone in the Court’s history, as it is the first instance where assaults on the LGBTQ+ community are prioritized as a crime against humanity.
The ICC judges had previously accepted a request in 2022 from the prosecutor to rejuvenate the investigation into Afghanistan. This inquiry had originally been halted based on the assertion from Kabul that it could manage its own investigations.
Khan expressed his concern that under the Taliban rule, there is “no longer the prospect of genuine and effective domestic investigations” taking place within Afghanistan.
Nevertheless, human rights advocates have raised concerns over Khan’s strategic focus on crimes committed by the Taliban and the Islamic State’s affiliate in Afghanistan, as he indicated intentions to “deprioritize” investigation aspects concerning offenses by American forces.
His predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, had received authorization in 2020 to examine allegations involving Afghan government forces, the Taliban, U.S. military personnel, and American intelligence operatives, dating as far back as 2002.
The examination of American actions had resulted in sanctions imposed by the previous Trump administration against Bensouda, whose term concluded in 2021.
While there is no established timeline for judges to make a determination on warrant requests, the typical timeframe spans about four months. A pre-trial chamber took three weeks to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2023 but required six months in the case of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year.
