ICC arrest warrants for Taliban leaders over persecution of women, girls

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants Tuesday for the Taliban's supreme leader and the head of Afghanistan's Supreme Court on charges of persecuting women and girls since seizing power nearly four years ago.

The warrants also accuse the leaders of persecuting “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.'”

The warrants were issued against Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhunzada and the head of the Supreme Court, Abdul Hakim Haqqani.

New research shows the Taliban have standardized religious schools called madrasas nationwide: no math, no science, no critical thinking.

Girls are banned, while boys are being shaped into the next generation of Taliban.

We are talking about over 30 million children in limbo. pic.twitter.com/GYLgqcnqJ0

— Sara Wahedi (@SaraWahedi) July 7, 2025

The court said in a statement that the Taliban have “severely deprived, through decrees and edicts, girls and women of the rights to education, privacy and family life and the freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience and religion. In addition, 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 court's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, sought the warrants in January, saying that they recognized that “Afghan women and girls as well as the LGBTQI+ community are facing an unprecedented, unconscionable and ongoing persecution by the Taliban.”

An 11-year-old Afghan girl, Lina Haidar, has proudly earned her 12th-grade certificate in Germany, breaking national records. In a time when the Taliban bans girls from education in Afghanistan, Afghan girls abroad continue to shine and defy gender apartheid. #LetAfghanGirlsLearn pic.twitter.com/sfb2xSJ0Fp

— Jahanzeb Wesa (@JahanzebWesa) July 5, 2025

Global advocacy group Human Rights Watch welcomed the decision.

“Senior Taliban leaders are now wanted men for their alleged persecution of women, girls, and gender non-conforming people. The international community should fully back the ICC in its critical work in Afghanistan and globally, including through concerted efforts to enforce the court's warrants," Liz Evenson, the group's international justice director, said in a statement.