ICC Issues Two Arrest Warrants for Leaders of the Taliban

The international criminal court has issued warrants for the arrest of two Taliban leaders, accusing them of crimes against humanity for the persecution of women and girls.

- Kaamil Ahmed Zahra Joya

In a statement yesterday, the court said there were "reasonable grounds to believe" the Taliban's supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, and chief justice, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, had ordered policies that deprived women and girls of "education, privacy and family life, and the freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience and religion".

Afghan human rights activists have called for the Taliban's system of depriving women and girls of rights and freedoms and enforcing segregation to be recognised as gender apartheid.