The Taliban is reportedly enforcing a ban against certain media outlets airing “images of living beings” in Afghanistan.
An Afghan official confirmed the news to the Associated Press on Tuesday. The militant group, through its Vice and Virtue Ministry, is currently enforcing the rule in certain provinces, and it is unclear when or if it will apply to all media outlets across the country, including foreign media.
The new rule reflects laws announced by the Vice and Virtue Ministry in August, which also banned women’s voices and bare faces. The legislation marked the first declaration of such rules in Afghanistan since the Taliban took over after the U.S. withdrawal.
Article 17 of the legislation, which was approved by supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, bans the publication of any images depicting living beings.
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Vice and Virtue Ministry spokesman Saif ul Islam Khyber confirmed that media in the Afghan provinces of Maidan Wardak, Kandahar and Takhar have been advised not to show images of anything with a soul.
Aghan Independent Journalists Union director Hujjatullah Mujadidi reported that state media was directly told not to air such images by the ministry. It was later extended to all media in the provinces.
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“Last night, independent local media (in some provinces) also stopped running these videos and images and are instead broadcasting nature videos,” Mujadidi said.
Afghanistan is the only Muslim-majority country enforcing this broadcasting rule. The extremity of the legislation announced by the Vice and Virtue Ministry caused international concern, especially the laws pertaining to women.
The Vice and Virtue Ministry deemed that women’s voices were considered too “intimate” and banned women from singing or reading aloud in public. The legislation also requires women to wear veils in public.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.