ICC finds grounds to charge two Taliban ministers with crimes against humanity

The International Criminal Court's pre-trial chamber announced that it has identified reasonable grounds to prosecute two ministers of the Taliban government for crimes against humanity. According to the judges, the officials are alleged to have ordered, encouraged or solicited widespread persecution of Afghan women and girls, as well as individuals deemed political opponents. The regime's decrees have reportedly denied women basic rights such as education, employment, freedom of movement and social participation, and are associated with killings, arbitrary detention, torture, sexual violence and enforced disappearances.

United Nations analyses were cited to support the assessment of a systematic policy of oppression. This follows earlier ICC warrants targeting supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Supreme Court president Abdul Hakim Haqqani for comparable offenses.