ICC guns for Taliban chief: Arrest warrant issued for ‘gender apartheid’ against Afghan women

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants against two senior leaders of the Taliban , accusing them of committing crimes against humanity for the persecution of women and girls in the country. On Tuesday, ICC released a statement stating that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” the Taliban’s supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, and Afghanistan’s chief justice, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, committed atrocities.

The two leaders were accused of introducing policies that deprived women and girls of “education, privacy and family life and the freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience and religion”. Afghan human rights activists have slammed the draconian Taliban regime for depriving women and girls of rights and freedoms and enforcing segregation, referring to it as gender apartheid.

Tahera Nasiri, an Afghan women’s rights activist based in Canada, lauded the ICC and told The Guardian that the arrest warrant was an acknowledgement of the abuses Afghan women have been facing for four years now. “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," she told the British news outlet.

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“Even if Akhundzada and Haqqani never sit in court, they now carry the mark of international criminals,” she said. “They are no longer just leaders of Afghanistan; they are wanted men," she added.

What is the case about?

In the Tuesday ruling, the court argued that the alleged crimes against Afghan women have taken place since the Taliban took over Afghanistan on August 15, 2021. It was January 2025 when ICC’s chief prosecutors first sought warrants against Taliban leaders.

Soon after coming back to power, the militant group have introduced several autocratic policies against Afghan women . From banning women from paid work to forbidding young girls from entering secondary schools, the Taliban has managed to make the women of Afghanistan voiceless in their own country.

Human rights groups around the world lauded the Tuesday ruling and urged the international community to support the ICC’s endeavour. Liz Evenson, Human Rights Watch’s international justice director, said: “Senior Taliban leaders are now wanted men for their alleged persecution of women, girls, and gender non-conforming people.”

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While announcing that he is seeking a warrant against the Taliban leaders, ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, said the two leaders were “criminally responsible” for gender-based persecution in Afghanistan. “Our commitment to pursue accountability for gender-based crimes, including gender persecution, remains an absolute priority,” he said at that time. However, one has to wait and see if the arrest warrant brings any changes to the lives of Afghan women under the Taliban or not.