RASC News Agency: The Afghanistan Freedom Front has welcomed the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) request for arrest warrants against Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader, and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the head of the Taliban’s Supreme Court. The Front has urged ICC judges to act swiftly in enforcing these warrants, emphasizing the need for immediate justice. In a statement issued on Thursday, January 23, the Freedom Front commended the ICC’s move, describing it as a pivotal step in advancing justice. The statement declared: “The Afghanistan Freedom Front fully supports the ICC Prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants against Hibatullah Akhundzada and Hakim Haqqani, the judiciary head of this group, and calls on ICC judges to take prompt and decisive action in this regard.”
The Freedom Front also underscored the Taliban’s record of egregious crimes, including systematic violations of human rights, war crimes, targeted killings, extrajudicial executions, unlawful detentions, torture of prisoners, and forced displacements. Furthermore, the Front urged nations and international organizations pursuing normalization of relations with the Taliban to end their complicity by ignoring the group’s widespread atrocities, particularly against Afghanistani women. It called for a principled stance that aligns with the values of justice and human rights, urging an immediate cessation of all engagement with the Taliban.
This development follows the ICC Prosecutor’s official request for arrest warrants against the Taliban leader and the judiciary chief. Richard Bennett, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan, hailed this move as a “critical milestone” in the pursuit of justice.
