By Stephanie van den Berg

THE HAGUE (Reuters) – The International Criminal Court prosecutor on Thursday said he had applied for arrest warrants for Afghan Taliban leaders, including supreme spiritual leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, who accusing them of crimes against humanity for widespread discrimination against women and girls.

A statement issued by the office of the chief prosecutor Karim Khan said that the evidence collected as part of the investigations provided reasonable grounds to believe that Akhundzada, and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, who served as chief justice since 2021, “brings criminal responsibility for crimes against humanity to persecution on gender grounds.”

They are “criminally responsible for the persecution of girls and women in Afghanistan, as well as people who the Taliban perceive as not conforming to their ideological expectations of identity or gender expression, and people who are considered of the Taliban allies of women and girls,” the statement said.

The persecution took place from at least 15 August 2021 until today, throughout the territory of Afghanistan and continues, the prosecutor said.

The Afghanistan investigation is one of the longest by ICC prosecutors and has been plagued by legal and practical delays. The initial preliminary examination began in 2007 and it was only in 2022 that a full investigation was underway.

Since the Islamist Taliban in Afghanistan returned to power in 2021 it has restricted women’s rights, including limitations on schooling, work and general freedom in daily life.