Afghan burqa-clad women walk along a road in Arghandab district of Kandahar Province on September 10, 2025. (Photo credit: SANAULLAH SEIAM/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
On October 8-10, 2025, the People’s Tribunal for Women of Afghanistan, part of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT), an international opinion tribunal competent to rule on any serious crime committed to the detriment of peoples and communities, held public hearings in Madrid. The Tribunal is an initiative to add to the existing pathways to hold the Taliban accountable for their crimes and demand justice, raise the alarm about the normalization of the Taliban’s oppression of women and give women and girls their chance to be heard around the world.
The hearings provided a platform to Afghan women who bravely recounted their experiences and explained the impact of the Taliban-imposed restrictions on their lives. They spoke of the restrictions imposed on women and girls in their access to education and employment, among others. One witness told the Tribunal: “Before 2021, I had a job and could go outside. Now I have no job, can’t go out. My spirit is broken. Everything in my life has multiplied by zero. God never said to confine people to their homes. Why do you put women in solitary confinement?” Witnesses described how the Taliban were violently repressing women’s protests. This included hitting women protesters with the back of AK-47s, using pepper spray, and beating up those who were present to film these protests. Women were often detained in unofficial detention centers, without a warrant. In custody, they have experienced brutal beatings, torture, and have been interrogated until they agreed to forced confessions. A witness released from Taliban custody testified: “I was released from the prison cell of the Taliban, but I was confined to another prison cell: that of my home.”
The Taliban were not present at the Tribunal nor represented before it, despite attempts to ensure that they were made aware of the hearings. Who are the Taliban members who were indicted by the Tribunal?
The indictment issued by the Tribunal identified ten individuals who are said to represent the core of the Taliban’s current power hierarchy.
- Hibatullah Akhundzada, Supreme Leader, is said to be the ultimate decision-maker, holds the highest religious and political authority in Afghanistan and issues binding edicts (fatwas). Only a few months ago, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against him for his involvement in crimes against humanity of gender persecution.
- Sirajuddin Haqqani, Minister of Interior, oversees internal security, policing, and intelligence, and controls powerful military and paramilitary forces. He is also the head of the Haqqani Network, a semi-autonomous faction known for suicide attacks and ties to al-Qaeda.
- Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, Minister of Defense, commands the Taliban’s military forces.
- Abdul Ghani Baradar, Deputy Prime Minister (Political), is considered to be the co-founder of the Taliban and led the Doha negotiations.
- Noor Mohammad Saqib, Minister of Hajj and Religious Affairs, issues religious guidelines and has been instrumental in shaping the Taliban’s policies on gender and morality, including bans on women’s education and employment.
- Sheikh Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, Minister for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, heads the morality police and enforces the Taliban morality laws.
- Sheikh Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, shapes legal interpretations under the Taliban’s Islamic law system. He is said to be playing a central role in interpreting Sharia law for the Taliban judiciary, reinforcing hardline rulings, including those restricting women’s rights and instituting public punishments. He is the second person subject to the ICC arrest warrants for his involvement in crimes against humanity of gender persecution.
- Neda Mohammad Nadeem, Minister of Higher Education, is said to be responsible for the Taliban’s ban on women in universities and the promotion of a hardline curriculum aimed at aligning it with the Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islam.
- Habibullah Agha, Minister of Education, oversees the general education system. He is said to have been implementing and defending bans on girls’ secondary education.
- Abdul Haq Wasiq, Director of the General Directorate of Intelligence, leads the country’s intelligence operations across Afghanistan. He is said to have been leading the efforts to consolidate control through a nationwide intelligence apparatus, which became a key instrument of state repression.
The indictment states that the Taliban’s actions amount to gender persecution as crimes against humanity, and calls for recognition, accountability, and international response to this crime.
Two of those indicted, Mr Haibatullah Akhundzada and Mr Abdul Hakim Haqqani, are already subject to ICC arrest warrants. However, as the arrest warrants remain unenforced, the prospects of seeing the two men before the ICC are currently very low. The Tribunal, looking into their involvement in crimes against humanity of gender persecution, enables the assessment and consideration of the cases to ensure that the world remains informed about the nature and scale of the crimes perpetrated against women and girls in Afghanistan. The Tribunal cannot replace the ICC or other criminal courts; however, it helps to ensure that Afghan women are heard and seen by the world when the Taliban do everything to silence them and make them invisible as confined to their homes.
