The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for two senior Taliban leaders, accusing them of persecuting women and girls in Afghanistan since seizing power in 2021.
On Tuesday, the ICC judges declared there were “reasonable grounds” to suspect Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani of committing crimes against humanity in their treatment of women and girls, who have been restricted from accessing education, paid employment, freedoms of movement and freedom of religion, among other prohibitions.
In a statement, the court said “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 Taliban had “severely deprived” girls and women of their human rights, and that “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 ICC judges said.
The court said that the alleged crimes had been committed between August 15, 2021, when the Taliban seized power and endured until at least January 20 this year.
The ICC prosecutor’s office described the warrants as “an important vindication and acknowledgement of the rights of Afghan women and girls.”
“Through the Taliban’s deprivation of fundamental rights to education, privacy and family life… Afghan women and girls were increasingly erased from public life,” said ICC prosecutors.
“The decision of the judges of the ICC affirms that their rights are valuable, and that their plight and voices matter.”
Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has been leading the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan since US-led forces left the country in August 2021. During the 80s, he was involved in Islamist groups fighting against the Soviet military campaign in Afghanistan. He became the supreme commander of the Taliban almost a decade ago.
Chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani was a negotiator on behalf of the Taliban during discussions with US representatives in early 2020 and was a close associate of Taliban founder Mullah Omar, who had twice refused to hand over Osama bin Laden to the US to face justice for the attacks on 9/11.
Taliban authorities have rejected the ICC’s latest warrants issued against both men as “nonsense,” — “a clear act of hostility” and an “insult to the beliefs of Muslims around the world”, saying they do not recognise the court.
“[The ICC warrants] won’t affect the strong commitment and dedication to sharia (Islamic law)” of Taliban authorities, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement.
“We don’t recognise any such international court, nor do we need it.”
Back in January this year, one of the ICC’s top prosecutor Karim Khan alleged the two Taliban leaders were “criminally responsible for persecuting Afghan girls and women, as well as persons whom the Taliban perceived as not conforming with their ideological expectations of gender identity or expression, and persons whom the Taliban perceived as allies of girls and women”.
Khan also warned that he would seek warrants for other Taliban officials to “demonstrate that our commitment to pursue accountability for gender-based crimes, including gender persecution, remains an absolute priority.”
“These applications recognise that Afghan women and girls as well as the LGBTQI+ community are facing an unprecedented, unconscionable and ongoing persecution by the Taliban,” he said in a statement. “Our action signals that the status quo for women and girls in Afghanistan is not acceptable. Afghan survivors, in particular women and girls, deserve accountability before a court of law.”
At the time, the Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a rebuttal, accusing the court of turning a blind eye to what it described as “numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by foreign forces and their local allies” — alluding to US-led forces stationed in the country before 2021.
“It is regrettable that such unfounded claims are being made against the honourable leaders of the Islamic Emirate at a time when peace has finally been restored in Afghanistan,” it said.
“The Afghan people, after years of suffering, have only recently begun to experience relief from the chaos of private prisons, abductions, warlords and other inhumane practices.”
In May, Khan stepped down temporarily from his role as the chief prosecutor of the ICC pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against him — allegations which he has categorically denied.
This week, Amnesty’s secretary general, Agnes Callamard welcomed the ICC’s arrest warrants, saying the Taliban’s policies have deprived Afghanistan’s women and girls of essential rights.
“This is a vital step toward ensuring accountability for those who are said to be responsible for gender-based deprivation of core human rights,” Callamard said.
Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch, urged 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.”
“The ICC Office of the Prosecutor should continue its investigations and extend the reach of justice to victims of other Taliban abuses, as well as victims of the Islamic State of Khorasan Province forces, former Afghan security forces, and United States personnel,” she said in a statement. “Addressing cycles of violence and impunity in Afghanistan requires providing equal access to justice for victims of all rights abusers.”
Since regaining power in August 2021, Taliban authorities have imposed restrictions on women and girls, maintaining that the rules align with their interpretation of Islamic law and Afghan culture.
The restrictions, which have seen women and girls squeezed out of public life and barred from accessing education, has been described by the UN as tantamount to “gender apartheid“. The “vice and virtue” law announced in 2024 prohibited women from singing or reciting poetry in public and for their voices and bodies to be “concealed” outside the home.
The ICC was established in 2002 to adjudicate the world’s worst crimes, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, but relies on member states to carry out any arrests since it does not have its own police force.
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