ICC unseals arrest warrants for four Taliban leaders over women's rights
The International Criminal Court on Monday made public arrest warrants for four Taliban leaders, including their top leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada. Judges say the men likely took part in the abuse of women and girls, which is a crime against humanity. The Taliban reject the court, and it has no police to make arrests.
The International Criminal Court unsealed arrest warrants on Monday for four senior Taliban leaders. They are supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Education Minister Habibullah Agha and Higher Education Minister Neda Mohammad Nadim.
Judges said there are reasonable grounds to believe the four ordered or pushed the persecution of girls and women in Afghanistan. That is a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute, the court's founding treaty. The court said the abuse also targeted people who did not fit the Taliban's rules on gender, and people seen as "allies of girls and women." The crimes are believed to have run from the Taliban takeover on Aug. 15, 2021, until at least Jan. 20, 2025.
The court described how life changed. Through decrees, girls and women lost rights to education, privacy and family life, and freedom of movement, speech, thought and religion. The two ministers are accused over rules that bar girls older than 12 from school and keep women out of universities, AFP reports. Judges also linked the policies to murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and forced disappearances.
The warrants are not new. Judges issued them under seal on July 8, 2025, and Sept. 9, 2025. The court had already said the first two existed. It chose to make all four public, with some parts blacked out, to help prevent more crimes and win more cooperation, AFP reported.
The Taliban said no. "We are bound by the rulings of Islamic Sharia and its courts, not by intelligence entities or so-called courts," chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said, according to DW. The court has no police force of its own, so it relies on member countries to make arrests. With the Taliban in power, ABC News says arrests look unlikely soon.
The Taliban returned to power in August 2021 as U.S. forces left. ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan asked judges for the first two warrants in January 2025. Since then, the Taliban have kept girls over 12 out of school.
What we know: Four Taliban leaders now face public ICC warrants.
What we don't: Whether any of them will ever leave Afghanistan to face arrest.
Where outlets agree The ICC and UN News both report the four warrants accuse Taliban leaders of gender-based persecution, a crime against humanity.
Where they differ The court says making the warrants public may help prevent new crimes, while Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says Afghanistan answers only to Islamic law, not "so-called courts."