{"id":54816,"date":"2025-07-09T11:26:01","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T11:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/icc-issues-arrest-warrants-for-taliban-leaders-over-persecution-of-afghan-women\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T10:40:39","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T10:40:39","slug":"icc-issues-arrest-warrants-for-taliban-leaders-over-persecution-of-afghan-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/icc-issues-arrest-warrants-for-taliban-leaders-over-persecution-of-afghan-women\/","title":{"rendered":"ICC issues arrest warrants for Taliban leaders over persecution of Afghan women"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to the ICC, Akhundzada, the Taliban\u2019s Supreme leader, and Haqqani, the Chief of Justice, are charged with persecution \u201con the gender grounds\u201d, a grave offence under the Rome Statute. <\/p>\n

This crackdown stems from widespread reports of severe restrictions and abuses targeted at women and girls since the Taliban\u2019s return to power in 2021.<\/p>\n

“Pre-Trial Chamber II considered that the Taliban have implemented a governmental policy that resulted in severe violations of fundamental rights and freedoms of the civilian population of Afghanistan, in connection with conducts of murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and enforced disappearance,” ICC said in a statement released on Tiesday, July 8.<\/p>\n

According to the ICC, while the Taliban have imposed certain rules and prohibitions on the population as a whole, they have specifically targeted girls and women by reason of their gender, depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms. <\/p>\n

“Specifically, the Taliban severely deprived, through decrees and edicts, girls and women of the rights to education, privacy and family life and the freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience and religion.”<\/p>\n

In addition, other persons were targeted because certain expressions of sexuality and\/or gender identity were regarded as inconsistent with the Taliban\u2019s policy on gender. <\/p>\n

Furthermore, the Chamber found that individuals perceived as opposing these policies, even passively or through omission, were also targeted by the Taliban. This included those described as \u201callies of girls and women\u201d, who were viewed as political opponents. <\/p>\n

“The Chamber has decided that the warrants will remain under seal at this stage, in order to protect victims and witnesses and safeguard the proceedings,” the statement added.<\/p>\n

“Nevertheless, the Chamber considered that the conduct addressed is ongoing and that public awareness of the warrants may contribute to the prevention of the further commission of these crimes. Accordingly, the Chamber found that it is in the interests of justice to publicly disclose the existence of these warrants.”<\/p>\n

The Taliban dismissed the ICC\u2019s warrants as \u201cbaseless rhetoric,\u201d with spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid defending the leadership by claiming they uphold justice based on \u201cthe sacred laws of Islamic Sharia.\u201d The clash between the ICC\u2019s global mandate and the Taliban\u2019s defiant stance makes this a developing story to watch.<\/p>\n

While ICC’s recent actions send a powerful message, the true challenge lies in their enforcement. Although Afghanistan was a member of the ICC under the previous government, the Taliban, now firmly in control, has rejected this status. This means the prospects of any arrests happening soon are slim. <\/p>\n

Despite this hurdle, human rights groups worldwide, including Amnesty International, have praised the ICC\u2019s move as a crucial beacon of hope for Afghan women and girls facing severe oppression.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Amnesty International\u2019s Secretary General Agn\u00e8s Callamard highlighted the importance of this decision, saying it \u201cgives hope to Afghan women, girls, and all those persecuted on the basis of gender identity or expression.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants against two top Taliban leaders, Haibatullah Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, accused of serious crimes against Afghan women.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000090619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[201],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-54816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-rania-umutoni"],"bylines":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":139}],"contributors":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":139}],"featured_image":{"id":2000090619,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mixcollage-09-jul-2025-10-40-am-7365.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mixcollage-09-jul-2025-10-40-am-7365.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mixcollage-09-jul-2025-10-40-am-7365.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mixcollage-09-jul-2025-10-40-am-7365.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mixcollage-09-jul-2025-10-40-am-7365.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/mixcollage-09-jul-2025-10-40-am-7365.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000090619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54816"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=54816"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=54816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}