ICC Issues Arrest Warrants Against Taliban Leaders Over Gender Persecution

On July 8, 2025, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued warrants of arrest for Mr Haibatullah Akhundzada, Supreme Leader of the Taliban, and Mr Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Chief Justice of the Taliban, who have exercised de facto authority in Afghanistan at least from 15 August 2021. The ICC is the only permanent international criminal tribunal in existence. The decision to issue the arrest warrants came some six months after the Chief Prosecutor applied for them. The decision follows the litany of restrictions placed by the Taliban on the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan ever since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021. Women and girls are not allowed to get an education (apart from primary education). They are not allowed to work. They are not allowed to travel without mahram. Women are to veil in public at all times. They are not to be heard singing, reciting, or reading aloud in public. Women are not allowed to look at men they are not related to by blood or marriage, and vice versa. Women are banned from attending public and private medical institutes in Afghanistan. The list goes on.

The Taliban deprived women and girls of their fundamental rights and freedoms through decrees, edicts, and laws. These limitations have been documented by international bodies, experts, civil society representatives and victims/survivors themselves. Pre-Trial Chamber II further considered 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.

Having considered the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, the Chamber concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Haibatullah Akhundzada and Mr Abdul Hakim Haqqani have committed crime against humanity of persecution, under article 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute, on gender grounds against girls, women and other persons non-conforming with the Taliban’s policy on gender, gender identity or expression; and on political grounds against persons perceived as “allies of girls and women” and this by way of ordering, inducing or soliciting. These crimes are believed to have been committed on the territory of Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in August 2021.

Pre-Trial Chamber II considered that 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. The Chamber found that gender persecution encompasses not only direct acts of violence, but also systemic and institutionalized forms of harm, including the imposition of discriminatory societal norms.

Because of the ever-present restrictions on the rights of women and girls, Richard Bennett, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, concluded that “the cumulative effect of the Taliban’s systematic discrimination against women raises concerns about the commission of international crimes.” He further indicated that “the cumulative effect of the restrictions on women and girls (…) was tantamount to gender apartheid.” While currently, gender apartheid is not an international crime, Afghan women and international law experts are working on codifying it as an international crime. As gender apartheid is not currently a crime under the Rome Statute, the Pre-Trial Chamber II could not issue arrest warrants for it. This is why the Pre-Trial Chamber II focused on the closest crimes currently available – the crime of persecution as a crimes against humanity. The Rome Statute covers the crime of gender persecution as crimes against humanity with “persecution” meaning “the intentional and severe deprivation of fundamental rights contrary to international law by reason of the identity of the group or collectivity” and “gender” meaning “the two sexes, male and female, within the context of society.”

The above-summarized restrictions were imposed by the Taliban upon all women and girls. However, some women and girls would experience additional challenges in addition to those because of their gender. Among others, women from ethnic and minority communities face double vulnerability and are targeted because of their gender and because of their ethnic and/or religious identity. Among them, the Hazara women and girls have been specifically targeted because of their ethnic identity and because of their Shia religious identity. Similarly, women and girls with disabilities face additional discrimination and marginalization. This issue of intersectionality requires further urgent attention.

In the case of Afghanistan, we see a clear example of gender persecution being also religious persecution – the Taliban impose an extreme interpretation of Islam upon the population and use it to suppress the rights of women and girls. In Afghanistan, anyone who does not conform to the interpretation of Islam prescribed by the Taliban is at risk. However, the situation of women and girls is particularly challenging, with women and girls being effectively removed from society. The Taliban has been using religion to justify the restrictions imposed upon women and girls. As such, the issue of religious persecution, in addition to gender persecution, requires attention.

The Chamber has decided that the warrants will remain under seal at this stage, in order to protect victims and witnesses and safeguard the proceedings. However, the Chamber found that it is in the interests of justice to publicly disclose the existence of these warrants.