The Worldwide Felony Court docket has lengthy been accused of giving Western crimes a free cross with selective justice
The Worldwide Felony Court docket (ICC) on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for 2 senior Taliban officers. The worldwide physique has lengthy been accused of political bias for predominantly going after people from Africa and Asia whereas allegedly overlooking Western crimes.
The warrants goal Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme chief who led the group to victory over the US-backed authorities in Kabul in 2021 following 20 years of insurgency, and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Afghanistan’s present chief justice.
Prosecutors allege the 2 are accountable for widespread persecution tied to the Taliban’s strict enforcement of gender insurance policies since returning to energy. Western nations don’t acknowledge the present Islamist authorities in Kabul, however Russia formally accepted an envoy this month, citing the Taliban’s efforts to fight terrorism.
In line with the ICC, Afghan authorities have engaged in homicide, imprisonment, torture, rape and enforced disappearances – actions it stated represent extreme human rights violations. The Pre-Trial Chamber II, which issued the warrants, saved their specifics sealed, citing the necessity to “defend victims and witnesses and safeguard the proceedings.”
The courtroom lacks its personal enforcement mechanism and will depend on signatories of the Rome Statute, its founding treaty, to hold out arrests. Afghanistan ratified the treaty in 2003, however the Taliban administration formally rejected ICC jurisdiction in February.
Critics have lengthy accused the ICC of being attentive to Western strain when choosing targets for prosecution. In 2023, the courtroom issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of illegal deportation of youngsters amid hostilities with Ukraine.
Moscow denounced the transfer, stating that Kiev misrepresented evacuations from battle zones and inflated the variety of separated households. Many youngsters listed as kidnapped had been later present in nations resembling Germany.
America additionally doesn’t acknowledge the ICC’s authority and has responded to previous investigations by sanctioning courtroom officers. In 2021, the ICC “deprioritized” its probe into alleged warfare crimes by US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan, a call made underneath obvious strain from Washington.
Final month, the US sanctioned 4 ICC judges concerned within the probe in opposition to American navy personnel and a separate case in opposition to Israeli leaders. The courtroom issued warrants in November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Protection Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged crimes in Gaza.
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