THE HAGUE — The Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court said Wednesday it remains committed to pursuing effective legal avenues to hold senior Taliban leaders accountable for gender-based crimes in Afghanistan.
In a statement issued following the ICC’s announcement of arrest warrants for Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader, and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the chief justice of the Taliban’s judiciary, the Prosecutor’s Office described the decision as a significant step in recognizing the rights and lived experiences of Afghan women, girls, and other marginalized groups.
“Based on evidence presented by the Office, the judges found reasonable grounds to believe that these individuals committed the crime against humanity of persecution, under Article 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute,” the statement said. The court found that the two leaders ordered, induced or solicited persecution on gender grounds — targeting women, girls, and persons who did not conform with Taliban policies on gender identity or expression — and on political grounds, particularly against those perceived as “allies of girls and women.”
The Office noted that this is the first time the ICC has issued arrest warrants in its investigation into the Afghanistan situation, which was reauthorized in October 2022. The Afghanistan Unified Team, under the supervision of Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan, led the investigation.
The statement said the Taliban’s decrees and policies had increasingly removed women and girls from public life by depriving them of fundamental rights such as education, privacy, and family life. It emphasized that the ICC decision affirms that “their rights matter, their suffering matters, and their voices must be heard.”
The Office also acknowledged that the Taliban’s gender-based repression extended to others perceived as nonconforming with its ideology — including members of the LGBTQI+ community and civil society actors viewed as advocates for women.
The Prosecutor’s Office reaffirmed its broader commitment to investigating and prosecuting gender persecution, which it defined as a charge recognizing the discriminatory intent underlying gender-based crimes.
The ICC said the arrest warrants, while officially sealed, were made public to deter further crimes and to serve the interests of justice. The court continues to investigate additional alleged crimes committed by individuals affiliated with both the Taliban and Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISKP).
The Office of the Prosecutor thanked Afghan victims and witnesses, civil society groups, and international partners for their cooperation, and said it would work with both States Parties and non-States Parties to seek enforcement of the arrest warrants.
