One year after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and the group’s Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, questions continue over why the court initially focused on only two members of the Taliban’s senior leadership.
On July 8 last year, the ICC accused the two officials of crimes against humanity for their alleged role in the systematic persecution of women, girls and other groups through Taliban policies and restrictions.
While Hibatullah Akhundzada is widely seen as the architect of many of the Taliban’s restrictive decrees, legal experts say Abdul Hakim Haqqani was included because of his position as head of the Taliban’s judicial system.
As Chief Justice, Haqqani oversees the institution responsible for transforming the Taliban leader’s decrees into legally enforceable rulings across Afghanistan. Many of the restrictions imposed on women and girls have been implemented through the judicial framework under his authority.
Speaking to Afghanistan International, international law researcher Fouad Pouya said Haqqani played a central role in providing legal and judicial legitimacy to Akhundzada’s directives. According to Pouya, Haqqani helped convert those decrees into binding rules and policies that were systematically enforced throughout the country.
The legal expert also noted that the ICC’s investigations into other Taliban officials remain ongoing and that additional members of the group’s leadership could face similar charges in the future if sufficient evidence is gathered.
The Taliban have previously rejected the ICC’s arrest warrants and maintain that they do not recognize the court’s jurisdiction.
