The Ministry of Morality has stated that no one in the country is exempt from complying with these measures.
Newsroom (05/09/2024 18:31, Gaudium Press) The severe restrictions imposed by the Taliban government in Afghanistan on women, banning them from speaking aloud and showing their faces outside the home under the new Morality Law, are not receiving much attention in the international media.
These measures are part of a series of laws recently passed and confirmed by Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, which consider women’s voices to be “vice” when heard in public.
Every time “an adult woman goes out of necessity, she is obliged to hide her voice, face, and body”.
These rules, according to the country’s government, represent the specific application of Sharia, Islamic law. These regulations are strictly respected in Taliban countries, and the Ministry of Morality has arrested thousands of people through the mohtasabeen, or morality police.
The rules go further
The BBC reports that:
Women must also not be heard singing or reading aloud, even inside their homes.
Women’s clothing must not be thin, short, or tight.
Women must hide their bodies and face from men to whom they are not married or related by blood.
Men are also forbidden to look at women’s bodies and faces, and the same applies to adult women who look at men’s bodies.
No photography of living things
The new law also bans the creation, preservation, or publication of images of living things and covers everything from drawing a bird to taking a photo of a family member.
The purchase and sale of statues of living beings are also prohibited.
The law asks the morality police to prevent the “misuse” of tape recorders and radios, such as playing music, which is considered haram (forbidden) under Sharia law.
The production and display of photographs and films of living beings are also forbidden.
Punishments
For those who break the law, the penalties range from “being warned and frightened by God’s divine retribution”, to a fine and imprisonment of up to three days.
Following the promulgation of the new regulations, Roza Otunbayeva, head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, said that “the Afghan people deserve much more” than this. A watery statement that does not reflect the indignation that the UN has sustained about human rights violations elsewhere.
Compiled by Dominic Joseph
