ICC Issues Arrest Warrants for Senior Taliban Leaders Over Crimes Against Women

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for two senior Taliban leaders, accusing them of crimes against humanity for the systemic persecution of women and girls in Afghanistan since the group's return to power in 2021.

In a statement released Tuesday, the ICC said there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that Taliban supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Afghanistan’s chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani had implemented and enforced policies that deprived women and girls of basic human rights. These included rights to education, privacy, family life, and freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience, and religion.

The alleged crimes span from the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 until January 2025, when the ICC’s chief prosecutor initially sought the warrants.

Since seizing control, the Taliban has imposed a series of edicts that ban women from paid employment, secondary and higher education, and public spaces such as parks, while also restricting them from speaking publicly. Afghan and international human rights groups have described the system as a form of gender apartheid.

Tahera Nasiri, an Afghan women’s rights activist now based in Canada, said the arrest warrants mark a significant moment for Afghan women. “For four years, the Taliban have told us to stay silent, stay at home, cover our faces, give up our education, our voices and our dreams. Now, an international court is saying: ‘Enough. This is a crime.’”

Nasiri added that while Akhundzada and Haqqani may never stand trial, the warrants symbolically strip them of legitimacy. “They are no longer just leaders of Afghanistan, they are wanted men,” she said.

Human rights organizations welcomed the move and urged the international community to support enforcement of the arrest warrants. Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said: “Senior Taliban leaders are now wanted men for their alleged persecution of women, girls, and gender non-conforming people.”

The ICC’s action is the first international legal step to hold Taliban leadership accountable for the gender-based repression instituted since their return to power.