The International Criminal Court has long been accused of giving Western crimes a free pass with selective justice
The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for two senior Taliban officials. The international body has long been accused of political bias for predominantly going after individuals from Africa and Asia while allegedly overlooking Western crimes.
The warrants target Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader who led the group to victory over the US-backed government in Kabul in 2021 following two decades of insurgency, and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Afghanistan’s current chief justice.
Prosecutors allege the two are responsible for widespread persecution tied to the Taliban’s strict enforcement of gender policies since returning to power. Western nations do not recognize the current Islamist government in Kabul, but Russia formally accepted an ambassador this month, citing the Taliban’s efforts to combat terrorism.
According to the ICC, Afghan authorities have engaged in murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and enforced disappearances – actions it said constitute severe human rights violations. The Pre-Trial Chamber II, which issued the warrants, kept their specifics sealed, citing the need to “protect victims and witnesses and safeguard the proceedings.”
The court lacks its own enforcement mechanism and depends on signatories of the Rome Statute, its founding treaty, to carry out arrests. Afghanistan ratified the treaty in 2003, but the Taliban administration formally rejected ICC jurisdiction in February.
Critics have long accused the ICC of being responsive to Western pressure when selecting targets for prosecution. In 2023, the court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of unlawful deportation of children amid hostilities with Ukraine.
Moscow denounced the move, stating that Kiev misrepresented evacuations from conflict zones and inflated the number of separated families. Many children listed as abducted were later found in countries such as Germany.
The United States also does not recognize the ICC’s authority and has responded to past investigations by sanctioning court officials. In 2021, the ICC “deprioritized” its probe into alleged war crimes by US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan, a decision made under apparent pressure from Washington.
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Last month, the US sanctioned four ICC judges involved in the probe against American military personnel and a separate case against Israeli leaders. The court issued warrants in November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged crimes in Gaza.
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