Taliban persecution of women: Chief prosecutor demands arrest warrant

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Lerato Khumalo

“Ruthless persecution”

Oppression of women: Chief prosecutor demands arrest warrant for Taliban leader

January 23, 2025 – 3:10 p.mReading time: 2 minutes

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Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan (archive photo): He is demanding an arrest warrant against the Taliban leader. (Source: Peter Dejong/AP/dpa/dpa-bilder)

Since coming to power in 2021, the Taliban have been restricting women’s rights in Afghanistan. The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court is now calling for a reaction.

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has called for an arrest warrant against the leaders of the radical Islamic Taliban in Afghanistan because of the persecution of women. As chief prosecutor Karim Khan explained in The Hague on Thursday, there is reasonable suspicion that Taliban chief Haibatullah Achundsada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Hakkani are “criminally responsible for the crime against humanity of persecution on grounds of gender.”

Women and girls and LGBTQ people face “unprecedented, ruthless and persistent persecution by the Taliban” in Afghanistan, Khan added. “Our actions make it clear that the status quo for women and girls in Afghanistan is unacceptable.” Khan also announced further measures against other Taliban representatives.

The judges at the ICC must now check whether arrest warrants will be issued on Khan’s request – it could take weeks or months for a decision to be made. If arrest warrants are issued, the court’s 125 member states would in principle have to execute them if one of those affected travels to one of the countries.

The Taliban have been back in power in Afghanistan since 2021. The Islamists initially announced that they would govern more liberally, but soon drastically restricted the rights of women and girls. Women and girls are largely banned from public spaces. They are not allowed to attend secondary schools and their job opportunities are severely limited. Most recently, a few weeks ago, the Taliban issued a decree banning the installation of windows in residential buildings through which areas used by women could be visible.

In October of last year, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) announced that she wanted to expand deportations to Afghanistan. “We are working on further flights and there will be further deportations to Afghanistan in the near future,” she explained in the Bundestag. Germany had already deported asylum seekers to Afghanistan in August 2024.