ICC unseals four arrest warrants over Taliban persecution of women and girls

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has made public four arrest warrants against senior Taliban figures, accusing them of persecuting women and girls in Afghanistan, which amounts to a crime against humanity.In a decision on Monday, judges unsealed warrants for Taliban Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, whose existence was announced in July 2025, and for two further suspects, Habibullah Agha and Neda Mohammad Nadim. The four warrants were issued between July and September 2025.The court said there are reasonable grounds to believe all four are criminally responsible for ordering, inducing or soliciting persecution, a crime against humanity under article 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty.Punished on gender groundsIt says the persecution was carried out on gender grounds against girls, women and other people who did not conform to the de facto Taliban government’s policy on gender, gender identity or expression. It was also carried out on political grounds against people seen as “allies of girls and women”.According to the court, the crimes were committed in Afghanistan from 15 August 2021, when the Taliban seized powe...