ICC Prosecutor Seeks Arrest Warrants For Two Taliban Leaders

On January 23, 2025, the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) filed two applications for warrants of arrest before Pre-Trial Chamber II in the Situation in Afghanistan. According to the statement, after a thorough investigation and on the basis of evidence collected, the OTP submits that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the Supreme Leader of the Taliban, Haibatullah Akhundzada, and the Chief Justice of the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, bear criminal responsibility for the crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds, under article 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute.

The applications follow 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.

Because of this dire situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, in November 2024, six State Parties, namely, Chile, Costa Rica, Spain, France, Luxembourg, and Mexico referred the Situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (Situation in Afghanistan) to the ICC. In the referral, the six countries expressed their concern about the severe deterioration of the human rights situation in Afghanistan, especially for women and girls, and requested the OTP to consider the crimes committed against women and girls after the Taliban takeover in 2021. In December 2024, the Chief Prosecutor of the ICC confirmed that further steps would be taken in the case.

In the statement published on January 23, 2025, the OTP indicated that these two Afghan nationals, Haibatullah Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, are criminally responsible for persecuting Afghan girls and women, as well as persons whom the Taliban perceived as not conforming with their ideological expectations of gender identity or expression and persons whom the Taliban perceived as allies of girls and women. This persecution was committed from at least August 15, 2021, until the present day, across the territory of Afghanistan. The statement further added that “this ongoing persecution entails numerous severe deprivations of victims’ fundamental rights, contrary to international law, including the right to physical integrity and autonomy, to free movement and free expression, to education, to private and family life, and to free assembly.”

The OTP further added that “perceived resistance or opposition to the Taliban was, and is, brutally repressed through the commission of crimes including murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, enforced disappearance, and other inhumane acts.”

The Chief Prosecutor, commenting on the applications, stated that “these applications recognize that Afghan women and girls as well as the LGBTQI+ community are facing an unprecedented, unconscionable and ongoing persecution by the Taliban. Our action signals that the status quo for women and girls in Afghanistan is not acceptable. Afghan survivors, in particular women and girls, deserve accountability before a court of law.” He further added that “My Office further submits that the Taliban’s interpretation of Sharia should not, and may not be used to justify the deprivation of fundamental human rights or the related commission of Rome Statute crimes.”

The judges of the ICC will now determine whether these applications for arrest warrants establish reasonable grounds to believe that the named individuals committed the alleged crimes. These are the first applications for arrest warrants in the Situation in Afghanistan, as requested by the OTP. However, the OTP indicated that further applications for other senior members of the Taliban are to follow.

This is an important step towards justice and accountability for women and girls in Afghanistan – women and girls who have been effectively separated, segregated and removed from the public square, locked in the vicious circle of gender apartheid.