January 23, 2025
ICC seeks arrest warrants for Taliban leaders Akhundzada and Haqqani over persecution of women
Listen to the article International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan announced Thursday that he has sought arrest warrants for two senior Taliban leaders in Afghanistan, accusing them of persecuting women and girls in the country. The two individuals named in the request are Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s top spiritual leader, and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the group’s chief justice since 2021. Khan’s office said investigators found “reasonable grounds” to believe Akhundzada and Haqqani bear criminal responsibility for the crime against humanity of gender-based persecution. The statement highlighted that both leaders are complicit in the systemic persecution of Afghan women, girls



