Family of journalist 'tortured and killed' by Taliban seeks justice from ICC

The family of Pulitzer Prize-winning Indian photojournalists Danish Siddiqui has approached the International Criminal Court (ICC) asking for a probe into his death.

His family has filed a formal complaint with the ICC demanding that the Taliban leaders responsible for his death must be tried in court.

Siddiqui was killed last year in July when he was sent by Reuters to cover the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. He was embedded with a unit of the Afghan Special Forces in the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar city when he was killed, per The Independent.

"The Taliban targeted and killed Danish because he was a journalist and an Indian. That is an international crime. In the absence of rule of law in Afghanistan, the ICC has jurisdiction to investigate and try the perpetrators of Danish's murder," said the family's lawyer Avi Singh.

The complaint stated, "by all independent accounts the Taliban knowingly and intentionally subjected Siddiqui to humiliating and degrading treatment by stripping his jacket and helmet, running him over with a vehicle and shooting him multiple times."

It further reads that he was shot multiple times from close range and that his body had several injuries that were inflicted before his death.

Siddiqui's mother Shahida Akhtar said he was killed by the Taliban for "simply carrying out his journalistic duties." Last year, a Taliban spokesperson had denied killing Siddiqui and mutilating his body.

The complaint names six high-ranking Taliban leaders and high-level commanders including the acting defence minister of Afghanistan.

Others named in the complaint include the supreme commander of the Taliban Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, head of the Taliban Leadership Council Mullah Hassan Akhund, chief spokesperson Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, and the head of the Taliban's political office in Qatar, Mawlawi Muhammad.

Current minister of defence Yaqoob Mujahid, current governor of Kandahar Gul Agha Sherzai, and Zabihullah Mujahid, another Taliban spokesperson have also been named in the complaint.

The ICC does not have its own enforcement force and relies entirely on cooperation from concerned countries to carry out a probe into an incident.