ICC unseals Taliban arrest warrants over gender persecution in Afghanistan

The ICC has unsealed arrest warrants for four senior Taliban leaders over alleged gender persecution in Afghanistan. The move spotlights sweeping curbs on women and LGBTQI+ people, even as arrests remain unlikely.

In Short

• Warrants cover supreme leader, chief justice, education and higher education ministers
• Judges cited murder, torture, rape and disappearances linked to Taliban policy
• Women have been barred from jobs, public spaces and schooling

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 returned to power in 2021.

The warrants were issued in July and September last year for Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, Afghan Supreme Court chief Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Education Minister Habibullah Agha and Higher Education Minister Neda Mohammad Nadim. However, with the Taliban in control of Afghanistan and the ICC having no police force of its own, the chances of any of them being arrested are remote.

The existence of warrants against Akhundzada and Haqqani had been disclosed last year, but they had remained sealed. In a statement on Monday, the court said the four suspects were charged with persecution on gender grounds against "girls, women and 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 taking back control of Afghanistan, the Taliban have barred women from jobs, most public spaces and education beyond sixth grade. Last year, Akhundzada also banned buildings from having windows looking into places where a woman might sit or stand.

Judges who issued the warrants said 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 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. "In addition, other persons were targeted because certain expressions of sexuality and/or gender identity were regarded as inconsistent with the Taliban's policy on gender," they said.

Former ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan had announced in January last year that he had requested warrants for Akhundzada and Haqqani, saying his applications "recognise that Afghan women and girls as well as the LGBTQI+ community are facing an unprecedented, unconscionable and ongoing persecution by the Taliban".

Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the court's decision. "Afghanistan does not recognise any court under the title of the 'International Court,' nor does it attach any significance to its positions," he said in a written statement. He added, "we are bound by the rulings of Islamic Sharia and its courts, not by intelligence entities or so-called courts."

The ICC's move brings into the open its case against four top Taliban leaders over alleged gender persecution, while also underlining the limited prospects of arrests as the Taliban remains in power in Afghanistan.

With PTI Inputs

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