The ICC issues an arrest warrant for Afghanistan's supreme leader

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for the country's Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Afghanistan's Chief Justice Abdulhakim Haqqani as part of its investigation into the situation in Afghanistan. The court's decision to this effect was announced by the organization.

The court alleges that Akhundzada and Haqqani committed crimes against humanity, including gender-based persecution. The victims of these crimes were women. The ICC said that the political persecution targeted "women's rights defenders."

According to the court's conclusion, these actions continued from the moment the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan in August 2021 until January 20, 2025. Women and girls were systematically oppressed through decrees restricting their rights to education, freedom of movement, and freedom of expression, conscience, and religious belief.

Previously, the Afghan government had viewed such actions by the CCP as a denial of the religious and national values of the Afghan people.