Latest news with #HaibatullahAkhunzada
Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Taliban marks fourth anniversary of return to power with internal threats
The Taliban's leader has warned that Afghans ungrateful for its hardline rule will be severely punished by God in a statement marking the fourth anniversary of the group's return to power. The statement from Haibatullah Akhunzada was made in a social media post on Friday to commemorate 'Victory Day', four years on from the chaotic United States and NATO withdrawal from the country after more than 20 years of war as the Taliban retook the capital, Kabul. The threat was a stark reminder of the sweeping restrictions and repression of rights, especially of women and girls, that has taken place under the Taliban's rule, which is based on its strict interpretation of Islamic law. In his statement, Akhunzada said Afghans had faced hardships for decades in the name of establishing religious law in the country, which he said had saved citizens from 'corruption, oppression, usurpation, drugs, theft, robbery and plunder'. 'These are great divine blessings that our people should not forget and, during the commemoration of Victory Day, express great gratitude to Allah Almighty so that the blessings will increase,' his statement said. 'If, against God's will, we fail to express gratitude for blessings and are ungrateful for them, we will be subjected to the severe punishment of Allah Almighty.' He also advised government ministers to remove the word 'acting' from their job titles, signalling the consolidation of his administration's rule in the country amid a lack of internal opposition. Victory Day Four years on from its return to power, the Taliban government remains largely isolated in the international arena over the severe rights restrictions imposed under its rule although Russia became the first country to officially recognise the Taliban administration in early July. It also has close ties with China, the United Arab Emirates and a number of Central Asian states although none of these officially recognises the Taliban administration. Victory Day parades were planned in several Afghan cities on Friday, and in Kabul, helicopters were scheduled to drop flowers across the city. Photographs of an official ceremony in Kabul to open the commemorations showed a hall filled exclusively with male delegates. 'An open wound of history' Rather than celebrating, members of the activist group United Afghan Women's Movement for Freedom staged an indoor protest in the northeastern province of Takhar against the Taliban's oppressive rule, The Associated Press news agency reported. 'This day marked the beginning of a black domination that excluded women from work, education and social life,' the group said in a statement to the agency. 'We, the protesting women, remember this day not as a memory, but as an open wound of history, a wound that has not yet healed. The fall of Afghanistan was not the fall of our will. We stand, even in the darkness.' Afghan women also held an indoor protest in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, the agency reported. Repression and death threats The United Nations, foreign governments and human rights groups have condemned the Taliban for their treatment of women and girls, who are banned from most education and work, as well as parks, gyms and travelling without a male guardian. Inspectors from the Vice and Virtue Ministry require women to wear a chador, a full-body cloak covering the head, while a law announced a year ago ordered women not to sing or recite poetry in public and for their voices and bodies to be 'concealed' outside the home. Last month, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants against Akhunzada and the country's chief justice on charges of committing gender-based persecution against women and girls. ICC judges said the Taliban had 'severely deprived' girls and women of the rights to education, privacy, family life and the freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience and religion. At least 1.4 million girls have been 'deliberately deprived' of their right to an education by the Taliban government, a UN report from August 2024 found. Among the restrictions imposed on women is a ban on working for nongovernmental groups, among other jobs. A UN report this month revealed that dozens of Afghan women working for the organisation in the country had received direct death threats. The report said the Taliban had told the UN mission that its cadres were not responsible for the threats and a Ministry of Interior Affairs investigation is under way. An Interior Ministry spokesman, Abdul Mateen Qani, later told The Associated Press news agency that no threats had been made. In the meantime, Iran, Pakistan and the US have been sending Afghan refugees back to Taliban rule, where they risk persecution.
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
ICC issues warrants for Taliban leaders over alleged persecution of women
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for two top Taliban leaders in Afghanistan on charges of abuses against women and girls. ICC judges on Tuesday said there were 'reasonable grounds' to suspect Taliban Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhunzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani of committing gender-based persecution. 'While the Taliban have imposed certain rules and prohibitions on the population as a whole, they have specifically targeted girls and women by reason of their gender, depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms,' the court said in a statement. The Taliban has 'severely deprived' girls and women of the rights to education, privacy, family life and the freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience and religion, ICC judges said. 'In addition, other persons were targeted because certain expressions of sexuality and/or gender identity were regarded as inconsistent with the Taliban's policy on gender,' the court added. The Taliban was quick to reject the warrants as 'baseless rhetoric', saying that it does not recognise the ICC's authority and invoking the court's failure to protect the 'hundreds of women and children being killed daily' in Gaza. 'The leadership and officials of the Islamic Emirate have established unparalleled justice in Afghanistan based on the sacred laws of Islamic Sharia,' Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesperson for the Taliban government, said in a statement. Late in 2022, several Muslim-majority countries – including Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Qatar – condemned the Taliban's decision to restrict education for ICC said on Tuesday that the alleged crimes were committed from August 15, 2021, when the Taliban seized power after the withdrawal of United States forces, and continued until at least January 20 of this year. The court's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, sought the warrants in January, saying that 'Afghan women and girls as well as the LGBTQI+ community are facing an unprecedented, unconscionable and ongoing persecution by the Taliban'. Last year, the United Nations accused the Taliban government of barring at least 1.4 million girls from their right to an education during its time in power. Taking into account the number of girls not going to school before the group came to power, the UN said 80 percent of Afghan school-age girls – a total of 2.5 million – were being denied their right to an education. Authorities also imposed restrictions on women working for nongovernmental groups and other jobs. Beauty salons have been closed and women blocked from visiting public parks and gyms as well as travelling long distances without a male chaperone. A 'vice and virtue' law announced a year ago ordered women not to sing or recite poetry in public and for their voices and bodies to be 'concealed' outside the home. The rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) welcomed the ICC warrants on Tuesday. 'The announcement is an important development that gives hope, inside and outside the country, to Afghan women, girls, as well as those persecuted on the basis of gender identity or expression,' Amnesty International chief Agnes Callamard said in a statement. 'This is a crucial step to hold accountable all those allegedly responsible for the gender-based deprivation of fundamental rights to education, to free movement and free expression, to private and family life, to free assembly, and to physical integrity and autonomy.'For its part, HRW called on the international community to 'fully back the ICC in its critical work in Afghanistan and globally, including through concerted efforts to enforce the court's warrants'. Last year, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over war crime charges in Gaza, including using starvation as a weapon of war. But several Western members of the court have refused to commit to enforcing the warrants. Earlier this year, Poland said it would allow Netanyahu to visit the country, and Hungary hosted the Israeli prime minister and withdrew from the Rome Statute that established the ICC. For its part, the US – which is not a member of the court – imposed sanctions on ICC officials over the prosecution of Netanyahu. The ICC, based in The Hague, was set up to rule on the world's worst crimes, such as war crimes and crimes against humanity. It has no police force of its own, and relies on member states to carry out its arrest warrants.
