(23 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Hague, Netherlands – 23 January 2025
++STARTS AND ENDS ON SOUNDBITES++
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Karim Khan, International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor:
"After a thorough investigation on the basis of evidence collected, my office submits that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the supreme leader of the Taliban Hibatullah Akhunzada, and the chief justice of the so-called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Abdul Hakim Haqqani bear criminal responsibility for the crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds under Article 71H of the Rome Statute. My officers concluded that these two Afghan nationals are criminally responsible for persecuting Afghan girls and women, as well as persons whom the Taliban perceived are not conforming with their ideological expectations of gender identity or expression. And persons whom the Taliban perceived as allies of girls and women. This persecution was committed from at least the 15th of August 2021 until the present day across the territory of Afghanistan."
++BLACK FRAMES++
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Karim Khan, International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor:
"Perceived resistance or opposition to the Taliban was and is brutally repressed
through the commission of crimes, including murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, enforced disappearance and other inhumane acts. These are the first applications for arrest warrants in the situation in Afghanistan. My office will file further applications for other senior members of the Taliban soon."
++BLACK FRAMES++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Karim Khan, International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor:
"These applications recognise that Afghan women and girls, as well as the LGBTQ+ community, are facing an unprecedented, unconscionable and ongoing persecution by the Taliban. Our action signals the status quo for women and girls in Afghanistan is not acceptable. Afghan survivors, in particular, women and girls, deserve accountability before a court of law. My office further submits that the Taliban’s interpretation of Sharia should not and may not be used to justify the deprivation of fundamental human rights or the related Commission of Rome Statute crimes."
STORYLINE:
The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor announced on Thursday he had requested arrest warrants for two top Taliban officials for the repression of women.
Karim Khan said in a statement he asked judges to approve warrants for the group’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhunzada and the country’s Supreme Court chief Abdul Hakim Haqqani, accusing the men of crimes against humanity for gender-based persecution.
“These applications recognise that Afghan women and girls as well as the LGBTQI+ community are facing an unprecedented, unconscionable and ongoing persecution by the Taliban,” the Khan said in a statement.
Since they too back control of the country in 2021, the Taliban has barred women from jobs, most public spaces and excluded them from education beyond sixth grade.
Last year, Akhundzada banned buildings from having windows looking into places where a woman might sit or stand.
Human rights groups applauded the move.
It is the first time in the court’s history that attacks on the LGBTQ+ community have been considered a crime against humanity.
Judges at The Hague-based court approved a request in 2022 from the prosecutor to reopen the investigation into Afghanistan.
The probe was shelved after Kaboul said it could handle the investigation.
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