THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The International Criminal Court on Monday unsealed arrest warrants against four senior Taliban leaders, accusing them of the crime against humanity of gender persecution against women, girls and members of the LGBTQI community in Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in 2021.
Former ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan announced in January last year that he had requested warrants for Akhundzada and Haqqani, saying that his applications “recognize that Afghan women and girls as well as the LGBTQI community are facing an unprecedented, unconscionable and ongoing persecution by the Taliban.
Judges who issued the warrants said that the four suspects, “acting on behalf of the Taliban,” implemented a government policy that “resulted in severe violations of fundamental rights and freedoms of the civilian population of Afghanistan, in connection with conducts of murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and enforced disappearance. The judges said that the Taliban “specifically targeted girls and women by reason of their gender, depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms” including education, privacy and family life and the freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience and religion.
Rights groups applauded last year when the court issued sealed warrants for the two senior Taliban leaders.
