The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Karim Khan has initiated the arrest of Taliban Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Afghanistan's Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani for gender-based persecution.

According to a statement the ICC made on Thursday, the requests for arrest warrants have been filed with the court's Pre-Trial Chamber II for the situation in Afghanistan, RIA Novosti reports.

The reason for requesting their arrest is suspicion of crimes against humanity. According to Karim Khan, "there are reasonable grounds to believe" that Akhundzada and Haqqani are responsible for gender-based persecution, which qualifies as a crime against humanity under Article 7 of the Rome Statute.

 

These actions by the ICC are aimed at drawing attention to serious human rights violations in Afghanistan under the leadership of the Taliban. Haibatullah Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani are accused of crimes that can significantly affect the international community and change the approach to resolving conflict situations in the region.

As Vzglyad newspaper wrote, the US House of Representatives approved sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), and the ICC was concerned about the growing number of unexecuted arrest warrants. The head of the EU diplomatic service Josep Borrell accused EU countries of double standards if they refuse to execute the ICC warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.