CNN
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On Tuesday, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for two Taliban leaders, accusing them of persecuting girls and women in Afghanistan.
The pair are allegedly “ordered, directed or solicited” persecutions of girls, women and others who do not comply with Taliban policies regarding gender, the ICC said in a statement.
Taliban supreme leader Haibatura Ahnzada and Abdul Hakim Hakkani, the Supreme Court justice of the Hardline Islamist Group, are “criminally liable” for persecution on gender-based basis since at least August 15, 2021, the ICC chief prosecutor said in January.
Since gaining control of Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban has implemented a series of oppressive measures against women and girls, cracking down on the sounds of women’s voices in public.
The girl was banned from education after sixth grade. Women must cover their bodies, always cover their faces in public places, and are also forbidden to see unrelated men.
“The Taliban has imposed certain rules and prohibitions across the population, but specifically targeting girls and women for their gender, depriving them of basic rights and freedoms,” the ICC said Tuesday.
“Specifically, the Taliban has been devastated through decrees and dict decrees of girls and women, the rights to education, privacy and family life, and freedom of movement, expression, thinking, conscience and religion,” he continued.
Others, including “girls and women’s allies” and those with sexual identities, were also considered “contradictory to the Taliban’s policies regarding gender,” as well as those who were also targeted by the Taliban, the ICC said.
Lisa Davis, ICC’s special advisor on gender and other discriminatory crimes, said in a social media post that this was “the first time in history.”
Rights groups praised the move. Amnesty International Director General Agnes Caramad called it “a critical step to taking responsibility for education, free movement and free expression, personal and family life, free assembly, physical integrity and the fundamental rights of oneself.”
Liz Ebenson, International Attorney General of Human Rights Watch, said arrest warrants could “provide an essential path to justice for victims and their families.”
This story has been updated in development.
