The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, accusing them of crimes against humanity and gender-based persecution in Afghanistan since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021.
In a statement released Tuesday, the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber II said there are “reasonable grounds to believe” the two leaders oversaw and enforced policies that systematically targeted women, girls, and others who defied the Taliban’s rigid gender norms. The court said these actions, carried out between August 15, 2021, and at least January 20, 2025, amounted to widespread and institutionalized repression.
The ICC detailed how Taliban decrees stripped Afghan women and girls of basic rights — including education, freedom of movement, expression, privacy, and religion — while also punishing those who supported them. The court said this persecution extended beyond physical violence to include structural and social harm rooted in state policy.
“Gender persecution encompasses not only direct acts of violence, but also systemic and institutionalized forms of harm,” the court stated.
The warrants, originally sealed in January, were made public Tuesday in a move the ICC said aims to prevent further abuses and uphold justice.
