THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants Tuesday for the Taliban's supreme leader and the head of Afghanistan's Supreme Court on charges of persecuting women and girls since seizing power nearly four years ago.
The warrants also accuse the leaders of persecuting ''other persons nonconforming with the Taliban's policy on gender, gender identity or expression; and on political grounds against persons perceived as ‘allies of girls and women.'''
The warrants were issued against Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhunzada and the head of the Supreme Court, Abdul Hakim Haqqani.
The court's prosecution office called the decision to issue warrants ''an important vindication and acknowledgment of the rights of Afghan women and girls."
It added that the judges' ruling "also recognizes the rights and lived experiences of persons whom the Taliban perceived as not conforming with their ideological expectations of gender identity or expression, such as members of the LGBTQI+ community, and persons whom the Taliban perceived as allies of girls and women.''
Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesman for the Taliban government, rejected the court's authority.
He said in a statement that the court's decision reflected ''open hostility and hatred toward the holy religion of Islam and Shariah law,'' and is ''an insult to the beliefs of all Muslims.''
The warrants came just hours after the United Nations adopted a resolution Monday over U.S. objections that called on the Taliban to reverse their worsening oppression of women and girls and eliminate all terrorist organizations.