The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for senior Taliban leaders in Afghanistan over the persecution of women, a crime against humanity.

ICC judges said in a statement there were “reasonable grounds” to suspect Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani “have committed … the crime against humanity of persecution … on gender grounds”.

“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,” the court said.

The court said the alleged crimes had been committed between August 15, 2021, when the Taliban seized power and continued until at least January 20, 2025.

The Taliban had “severely deprived” girls and women of the rights to education, privacy and family life and the freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience and religion, ICC judges said.

“In addition, other persons were targeted because certain expressions of sexuality and/or gender identity were regarded as inconsistent with the Taliban’s policy on gender.”

Taliban authorities rejected the warrants as “nonsense”.

The ICC warrants “won’t affect the strong commitment and dedication to sharia (Islamic law)” of Taliban authorities, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement.

“We don’t recognise any such international court, nor do we need it,” he added.

The ICC, based in The Hague, was set up to rule on the world’s worst crimes such as war crimes and crimes against humanity.

It has no police force of its own and relies on its member states to carry out its arrest warrants — with mixed results.

In theory, this means that anyone subject to an ICC arrest warrant cannot travel to a member state for fear of being detained.

- ‘Ongoing persecution’

After sweeping back to power in August 2021, the Taliban authorities pledged a softer rule than their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001.

But they quickly imposed restrictions on women and girls that the United Nations has labelled “gender apartheid”.

Edicts in line with their strict interpretation of Islamic law handed down by Akhundzada, who rules by decree from the movement’s birthplace in southern Kandahar, have squeezed women and girls from public life.

The Taliban government barred girls from secondary school and women from university in the first 18 months after they ousted the US-backed government, making Afghanistan the only country in the world to impose such bans.

Authorities imposed restrictions on women working for non-governmental groups and other employment, with thousands of women losing government jobs — or being paid to stay home.

Beauty salons have been closed and women blocked from visiting public parks, gyms and baths as well as travelling long distances without a male chaperone.

A “vice and virtue” law announced last summer ordered women not to sing or recite poetry in public and for their voices and bodies to be “concealed” outside the home.

When requesting the arrest warrants in January, chief prosecutor Karim Khan said Afghan women and girls, as well as the LGBTQ community, were facing “an unprecedented, unconscionable and ongoing persecution by the Taliban”.

“Our action signals that the status quo for women and girls in Afghanistan is not acceptable,” he added.

Khan warned at the time he would soon be seeking additional warrants for other Taliban officials.