ICC issues warrants for Taliban leaders over alleged persecution of women

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued apprehension warrants for 2 apical Taliban leaders successful Afghanistan connected charges of abuses against women and girls.

ICC judges connected Tuesday said determination were “reasonable grounds” to fishy Taliban Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhunzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani of committing gender-based persecution.

“While the Taliban person imposed definite rules and prohibitions connected the colonisation arsenic a whole, they person specifically targeted girls and women by crushed of their gender, depriving them of cardinal rights and freedoms,” the tribunal said successful a statement.

The Taliban has “severely deprived” girls and women of the rights to education, privacy, household beingness and the freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience and religion, ICC judges said.

“In addition, different persons were targeted due to the fact that definite expressions of sexuality and/or sex individuality were regarded arsenic inconsistent with the Taliban’s argumentation connected gender,” the tribunal added.

The Taliban was speedy to cull the warrants arsenic “baseless rhetoric”, saying that it does not recognise the ICC’s authorization and invoking the court’s nonaccomplishment to support the “hundreds of women and children being killed daily” successful Gaza.

“The enactment and officials of the Islamic Emirate person established unparalleled justness successful Afghanistan based connected the ineffable laws of Islamic Sharia,” Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesperson for the Taliban government, said successful a statement.

Late successful 2022, respective Muslim-majority countries – including Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Qatar – condemned the Taliban’s determination to restrict acquisition for women.

The ICC said connected Tuesday that the alleged crimes were committed from August 15, 2021, erstwhile the Taliban seized powerfulness aft the withdrawal of United States forces, and continued until astatine slightest January 20 of this year.

The court’s main prosecutor, Karim Khan, sought the warrants successful January, saying that “Afghan women and girls arsenic good arsenic the LGBTQI+ assemblage are facing an unprecedented, unconscionable and ongoing persecution by the Taliban”.

Last year, the United Nations accused the Taliban authorities of barring astatine slightest 1.4 cardinal girls from their close to an acquisition during its clip successful power.

Taking into relationship the fig of girls not going to schoolhouse earlier the radical came to power, the UN said 80 percent of Afghan school-age girls – a full of 2.5 cardinal – were being denied their close to an education.

Authorities besides imposed restrictions connected women moving for nongovernmental groups and different jobs.

Beauty salons person been closed and women blocked from visiting nationalist parks and gyms arsenic good arsenic travelling agelong distances without a antheral chaperone.

A “vice and virtue” instrumentality announced a twelvemonth agone ordered women not to sing oregon recite poesy successful nationalist and for their voices and bodies to beryllium “concealed” extracurricular the home.

The rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) welcomed the ICC warrants connected Tuesday.

“The announcement is an important improvement that gives hope, wrong and extracurricular the country, to Afghan women, girls, arsenic good arsenic those persecuted connected the ground of sex individuality oregon expression,” Amnesty International main Agnes Callamard said successful a statement.

“This is simply a important measurement to clasp accountable each those allegedly liable for the gender-based deprivation of cardinal rights to education, to escaped question and escaped expression, to backstage and household life, to escaped assembly, and to carnal integrity and autonomy.”

For its part, HRW called connected the planetary assemblage to “fully backmost the ICC successful its captious enactment successful Afghanistan and globally, including done concerted efforts to enforce the court’s warrants”.

Last year, the ICC issued apprehension warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his erstwhile Defence Minister Yoav Gallant implicit warfare transgression charges successful Gaza, including utilizing starvation arsenic a limb of war.

But respective Western members of the tribunal person refused to perpetrate to enforcing the warrants. Earlier this year, Poland said it would let Netanyahu to sojourn the country, and Hungary hosted the Israeli premier curate and withdrew from the Rome Statute that established the ICC.

For its part, the US – which is not a subordinate of the tribunal – imposed sanctions connected ICC officials implicit the prosecution of Netanyahu.

The ICC, based successful The Hague, was acceptable up to regularisation connected the world’s worst crimes, specified arsenic warfare crimes and crimes against humanity. It has nary constabulary unit of its own, and relies connected subordinate states to transportation retired its apprehension warrants.

Source:

Al Jazeera and quality agencies