A group of Afghan women welcomes the court’s decision to arrest Taliban leaders for women’s persecution

A group of Afghan women praised the international criminal court on Friday to arrest Taliban leaders for their persecution with regard to women.

The chief prosecutor of the international criminal court, Karim Khan, announced Thursday that he had asked arrest mandates against two senior Taliban officials, including chief Hibatullah Akhundzada.

Since they regained control of the country in 2021, the Taliban has prohibited women access to jobs, most public spaces and education beyond the sixth year.

In a press release, the Afghan Women’s Movement for Justice and Awareness celebrated the CPI decision and described it as “great historical success”.

“We consider this achievement as a symbol of the strength and the will of Afghan women and believe that this stage will open a new chapter of responsibility and justice in the country,” said the group.

The Taliban government has not yet commented on the court’s decision.

An official of the former administration supported by the West warned that Taliban leaders were likely to exploit this decision for propaganda purposes by presenting it as proof of their faith and their resilience.

“They could tell their supporters that their convictions are so powerful that they caused the collective opposition of the world powers,” said Mohammad Halim Fidai on the X platform. Fidai was governor of four provinces before taking power and lives now outside Afghanistan. This decision could inadvertently serve them as a badge of honor or credibility.

Also Friday, the UN mission in Afghanistan said that the fact that girls remain deprived of education was a “tragedy and a parody”.

“It has been 1,225 days – almost four years – that the authorities imposed a ban preventing girls over 12 years old from going to school,” said the head of the United Nations assistance mission in Afghanistan , Roza Otunbayeva. “It is a parody and a tragedy that millions of Afghan girls have been deprived of their right to education. »»

Afghanistan is the only country in the world which explicitly prohibits women and girls access to all levels of education, said Otunbayeva.