In brief
Chief prosecutor Karim Khan has accused Taliban leaders of committing crimes against humanity, specifically targeting women and the LGBTQI+ community in Afghanistan amid worsening oppression since 2021.
In a significant move, Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), announced a request for arrest warrants for key Taliban figures including Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader, and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the chief justice. The charges cite “unprecedented” persecution of Afghan women and girls, along with attacks on the LGBTQI+ community. Khan emphasized that these leaders have engaged in crimes against humanity, notably “persecution on gender grounds.” Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan after the U.S. military withdrawal in 2021, they have imposed harsh restrictions that effectively erase women from public life. New laws have seen women barred from jobs, public spaces, and even education, marking Afghanistan as the only country denying girls high school and women university access. Additionally, the regime has closed beauty salons, a rare space for women to meet outside their homes. A U.N. rapporteur has characterized the situation as “gender apartheid,” prompting many women to flee the country or search for ways to escape their confined lives.
