The family of Danish Siddiqui, an Indian photojournalist killed in a Taliban attack in Afghanistan in July 2021, filed a petition with the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday against several high-level Taliban leaders and commanders. Reuters had placed Siddiqui with the Afghan Special Forces in the Spin Boldak district in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province. Various reports and investigations confirmed that Siddiqui was illegally captured, tortured and killed by the Taliban. Indian authorities claimed that his body was mutilated, including publicly driving a heavy vehicle over his body. The journalist’s family alleged that the Taliban tortured and killed him because he was a journalist and an Indian citizen. They also argued that his murder constitutes a crime against humanity and a war crime. The family’s lawyer, Avi Singh, claimed that Siddiqui’s murder was an international crime. He stated that the ICC has jurisdiction to investigate and try the Taliban responsible for his death due to the absence of the rule of law in Afghanistan. Singh said: “As the Taliban fight for international legitimacy, they must face responsibility for their past actions.” The ICC complaint identified six prominent Taliban leaders and other unnamed local commanders as the perpetrators. The main Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, also one of the defendants, stated that the Taliban authorities regretted his death and did not know how he was killed. In March 2020, the ICC, which has jurisdiction under the Rome Statute, allowed a prosecutor to investigate Article 5 crimes committed in Afghanistan since May 2003. The prosecutor subsequently deferred the investigation to the government of Afghanistan under the former President Ashraf Ghani, in accordance with Article 18(2) of the Rome Statute. However, after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, the prosecutor sought to resume his investigation into war crimes committed by the Taliban and the Islamic State in Afghanistan. The ICC prosecutor will likely include Siddiqui’s death if this investigation is resumed.