Particle.news
Download on the App Store
19 ARTICLES
·
9h ago

ICC Confirms Sealed Arrest Warrants for Taliban Leaders Over Gender-Based Persecution

These sealed warrants represent the ICC’s first use of the gender persecution clause, with enforcement contingent on member state cooperation.

Image
Abdul Kabir (C), Afghanistan's acting Minister of Refugees and Repatriation, speaks during a graduation ceremony of Manba-ul-Jihad, a madrassa or Islamic school, in Khost on January 24, 2025. Afghanistan's Taliban government said on January 24 an arrest warrant sought by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for its leaders was "politically motivated". (Photo by AFP)
A Taliban security personnel stands over an armoured tank bearing a Taliban flag, as he keeps guard during a religious procession by Afghan Shiite Muslims celebrating Ashura, on the tenth day of the Islamic holy month of Muharram, in Kabul on July 6, 2025.
Image

Overview

  • On July 8, 2025, the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber II confirmed sealed arrest warrants for Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani under Article 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute.
  • The warrants allege that Taliban decrees from August 2021 to January 2025 systematically deprived Afghan women and girls of rights to education, privacy, family life and freedoms of movement, expression, thought and religion.
  • ICC judges found “reasonable grounds” to suspect both men of orchestrating crimes against humanity by targeting women and girls on gender grounds and others for non-conformity with Taliban gender norms.
  • Lacking its own enforcement arm, the ICC relies on member state cooperation and keeps the warrants under seal to protect victims and witnesses.
  • The Taliban government has rejected the court’s legitimacy as hostile to Islam, while human rights groups are urging states to act on the warrants.