Afghanistan’s Taliban regime has banned women from speaking or showing their faces in public under a new law approved by the supreme leader as part of efforts to fight vice and promote virtue.
The laws were promulgated on Wednesday with the approval of Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, a government spokesman said. After seizing power in 2021, the Taliban had set up a ministry aimed at “spreading virtue and preventing vice.”
The ministry on Wednesday promulgated the Law on Vices and Virtues, which covers various aspects of daily life such as public transport, music, shaving and celebrations.
They are set out in a 114-page, 35-article document reviewed by The Associated Press, which marks the first formal declaration of vice and virtue laws since the occupation of Afghanistan.
Gold Star father says Biden-Harris ‘rejected’ son’s military service as he honors fallen Afghanistan soldier in California
“We assure you that this Islamic law will go a long way in promoting virtue and eradicating vice,” ministry spokesman Maulvi Abdul Ghaffar Farooq said on Thursday.
The law gives the ministry the power to be the frontline in regulating individual behavior, carrying out punishments such as warnings and arrests if enforcement officers allege Afghans have broken the law.
Article 13 concerns women. It is compulsory for women to cover their bodies with a veil at all times in public places and it is essential that they cover their faces to avoid temptation and the temptation of others. Clothing must not be thin, tight or short.
Taliban fighters celebrate the third anniversary of the U.S.-led withdrawal from Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, in Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Sidiqullah Alizai)
Women are obliged to cover their bodies in front of non-Muslim men and women to avoid degradation. A woman’s voice is considered intimate, so she is not permitted to sing, recite, or read aloud in public. Women are forbidden to gaze upon men who are not related to them by blood or marriage, and vice versa.
Article 17 bans the publication of images of living creatures, further threatening Afghanistan’s already fragile media environment.
Article 19 prohibits the playing of music, the transport of women traveling alone and the mixing of unrelated men and women, and the law requires passengers and drivers to pray at designated times.
Promoting virtues includes prayer, aligning Muslim character and behavior with Islamic law, encouraging women to wear the hijab and calling on people to follow the five pillars of Islam, according to the ministry’s website, while eliminating vices includes forbidding people from doing things prohibited by Islamic law.
Last month, a UN report said the ministry was creating a climate of fear and intimidation among Afghans through its decrees and the way it was being enforced.
The ministry said its role was expanding into other areas of public life, such as media monitoring and combating drug addiction.
“Given the multiple issues outlined in the report, the authorities’ de facto position that this surveillance will now intensify and expand is a matter of grave concern for all Afghans, particularly women and girls,” said Fiona Fraser, human rights chief at the UN mission in Afghanistan.
Click here to get the FOX News app
The Taliban rejected the UN report.
