ICC unseals arrest warrants for Taliban leaders over gender persecution in Afghanistan

Islamabad  –  The International Criminal Court (ICC) based in The Hague on Monday unsealed four arrest warrants against senior Taliban leaders, finding reasonable grounds to believe that they are criminally responsible for the crime against humanity of persecution against women, girls and others who did not conform to the Taliban’s policies on gender, gender identity or expression.

The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber II issued the warrants against Taliban Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani on July 8, 2025, while warrants against Habibullah Agha and Neda Mohammad Nadim were issued on September 9, 2025.

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The existence of the warrants against Akhundzada and Haqqani was made public on July 8, 2025, while the Court on Monday decided to unseal all four warrants.

According to the ICC, the suspects are allegedly criminally responsible for ordering, inducing or soliciting persecution on gender grounds against girls, women and other persons who did not conform to the Taliban’s policy on gender, gender identity or expression.

The suspects are also accused of persecution on political grounds against people perceived as “allies of girls and women”, the Court said.

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The alleged crimes were committed in Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power on August 15, 2021, and continued until at least January 20, 2025, according to the warrants.

The Chamber said its interpretation of “gender” under the Rome Statute goes beyond a purely biological conception of sex and includes socially constructed roles, behaviours, expectations and hierarchies traditionally associated with individuals on the basis of their sex.

It said these “gender norms” form part of the context in which acts amounting to gender-based persecution under Article 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute must be assessed.

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The ICC said the Taliban authorities had implemented a governmental policy that resulted in severe violations of fundamental rights and freedoms of Afghanistan’s civilian population.

The Chamber linked the policy to conduct including murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and enforced disappearance, while noting that girls and women were specifically targeted because of their gender.

According to the Court, Taliban decrees and edicts severely deprived girls and women of fundamental rights, including access to education, privacy and family life, as well as freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience and religion.

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The Chamber further found that other individuals were targeted because certain expressions of sexuality and/or gender identity were considered inconsistent with the Taliban’s policy on gender.

The Court said persecution under Article 7(1)(h) is not limited to direct acts of physical violence but can also encompass systemic and institutionalised forms of harm, including the imposition of discriminatory societal norms.

It said the purpose of the Rome Statute includes protecting civilian populations from serious and systematic violations of fundamental rights, particularly vulnerable groups.

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The Chamber also determined that people perceived as opposing the Taliban’s policies, including through passive conduct or omission, were targeted and described by the authorities as “allies of girls and women”, effectively treating them as political opponents.

The unsealing of the warrants makes public the ICC’s detailed findings concerning the alleged persecution and the legal basis for the charges against the four Taliban leaders.

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