The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has issued arrests against the highest leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Haibatullah Akhundzada, and supreme judge Abdul Hakim Haqqani. They are suspected of involvement in the persecution of women and girls since the takeover of power of the Taliban, four years ago.
The Court blames the Taliban regime ‘serious violations of fundamental rights and freedoms’ of the Afghan population, as can be read in one Published Declaration van het Criminal Court. Akhundzada and Haqqani are associated with, among other things, murder, torture and rape.
Since the Americans withdrew from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021 after twenty years, the freedom of movement of women has increasingly reduced. Although the strict regime of the Taliban focuses on the entire population, according to the Criminal Court, the rights of women are considerably limited.
For example, women hardly have access to education and they are only allowed to completely cover the street. Human rights organizations state that in Afghanistan there is a ‘gender apartheid regime’, in which women are barely allowed to participate in public life. The Criminal Court speaks of ‘systematic and institutionalized’ violence against women.
At the beginning of this year, the Public Prosecutor of the ICC requested the submission of an arrest warrant. The judges who agreed with this rely on the statute of Rome; The treaty on the basis of which the ICC can condemn people. The Taliban regime at the time made the prosecutor as politically motivated.
Read also
Not at prayer in the mosque? Then the Taliban will come and have a look at your home