The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Taliban Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani for alleged gender persecution, offering a glimmer of hope for Afghan women, girls, and LGBTQI individuals. Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard hailed the move as a significant stride towards accountability for those purportedly responsible for denying fundamental rights based on gender.

The warrants focus on the systematic deprivation of rights, including education, movement, expression, private life, assembly, and physical autonomy. Callamard emphasized the importance of this measure in holding perpetrators responsible. Amnesty International urged the global community to recognize gender apartheid as an international crime to bolster the fight against systemic oppression based on gender.

The ICC”s Pre-Trial Chamber II issued the warrants on July 8, 2025, within the context of the Situation in Afghanistan. Both Akhundzada and Haqqani have held positions of authority since at least August 15, 2021. Amnesty International”s 2023 report, “The Taliban’s War on Women,” detailed the crime against humanity of gender persecution targeting women and girls. A previous 2022 report, “Death in Slow Motion: Women and Girls Under Taliban Rule,” documented widespread, systematic attacks on women”s rights, including torture, ill-treatment, and enforced disappearances. The discriminatory restrictions, impacting all aspects of women and girls” lives, are enshrined in Taliban policies, decrees, and regulations.