Taliban bans women’s voices, bare faces in public under new vice laws in Afghanistan

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Taliban bans women’s voices, bare faces in public under new vice laws in Afghanistan​

The Frontier Post

KABUL (AP): Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have issued a ban on women’s voices and bare faces in public under new laws approved by the supreme leader in efforts to combat vice and promote virtue.

The laws were issued Wednesday after they were approved by supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, a government spokesman said. The Taliban had set up a ministry for the “propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice” after seizing power in 2021.

The ministry published its vice and virtue laws on Wednesday that cover aspects of everyday life like public transportation, music, shaving and celebrations.

They are set out in a 114-page, 35-article document seen by The Associated Press and are the first formal declaration of vice and virtue laws in Afghanistan since the takeover.

Vice and Virtue Ministry officials were not immediately available for comment about the laws.

The laws empower the ministry to be at the frontline of cracking down on personal conduct, administering punishments like warnings or arrest if they allege Afghans have broken the laws.

Article 13 relates to women. It says it is mandatory for a woman to veil her body at all times in public and that a face covering is essential to avoid temptation and tempting others. Clothing should not be thin, tight or short.

Muslim women are obliged to cover themselves in front of non-Muslim males and females to avoid being corrupted. A woman’s voice is deemed intimate and so should not be heard singing, reciting poetry, or reading aloud in public. It is forbidden for women to look at men they are not related to by blood or marriage and vice versa.

Article 17 bans the publication of images of living beings, which threatens an already fragile Afghan media landscape.

Article 19 bans the playing of music, the transportation of solo female travelers, and the mixing of men and women who are not related to each other. The law also obliges passengers and drivers to perform prayers at designated times.

Last month, a UN report said the ministry was contributing to a climate of fear and intimidation among Afghans through edicts and the methods used to enforce them.

It said the ministry’s role was expanding into other areas of public life, including media monitoring and eradicating drug addiction.

“Given the multiple issues outlined in the report, the position expressed by the de facto authorities that this oversight will be increasing and expanding gives cause for significant concern for all Afghans, especially women and girls,” said Fiona Frazer, the head of the human rights service at the UN mission in Afghanistan.

Source:
https://thefrontierpost.com/taliban...in-public-under-new-vice-laws-in-afghanistan/

 

[ThunderCat]

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Taliban codify morality laws requiring Afghan women to cover faces, men to grow beards​

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Taliban bans the sound of women’s voices singing or reading in public​

Associated Press
August 22, 2024

The Taliban said women wouldn't face discrimination.

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers are cracking down on the sound of women’s voices in public, under a strict new set of vice and virtue laws under the Islamist regime.

The laws were issued Wednesday after they were approved by supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, a government spokesman said, and cover aspects of everyday life like public transportation, music, shaving and celebrations.

Among the new rules, Article 13 relates to women: It says it is mandatory for a woman to veil her body at all times in public and that a face covering is essential to avoid temptation and tempting others. Clothing should not be thin, tight or short.

Women are also obliged to cover themselves in front of non-Muslim males and females to avoid being corrupted. A woman’s voice is deemed intimate and so should not be heard singing, reciting, or reading aloud in public. It is forbidden for women to look at men they are not related to by blood or marriage and vice versa.

“Inshallah we assure you that this Islamic law will be of great help in the promotion of virtue and the elimination of vice,” said ministry spokesman Maulvi Abdul Ghafar Farooq on Thursday, of the new laws.

First formal declaration of vice and virtue laws​

The 114-page, 35-article document seen by The Associated Press constitutes the first formal declaration of vice and virtue laws in Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in 2021, when it also set up a ministry for the “propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice.”

The laws will empower the ministry to be at the frontline of regulating personal conduct, administering punishments like warnings or arrest if enforcers allege that Afghans have broken the laws.

The laws ban the publication of images of living beings, threatening an already fragile Afghan media landscape; the playing of music; the transportation of solo female travelers; and the mixing of men and women who are not related to each other. The laws also oblige passengers and drivers to perform prayers at designated times.

According to the ministry website, the promotion of virtue includes prayer, aligning the character and behavior of Muslims with Islamic law, encouraging women to wear hijab, and inviting people to comply with the five pillars of Islam. It also says the elimination of vice involves prohibiting people from doing things forbidden by Islamic law.

Last month, a U.N. report said the ministry was contributing to a climate of fear and intimidation among Afghans through edicts and the methods used to enforce them.

It said the ministry’s role was expanding into other areas of public life, including media monitoring and eradicating drug addiction.

“Given the multiple issues outlined in the report, the position expressed by the de facto authorities that this oversight will be increasing and expanding gives cause for significant concern for all Afghans, especially women and girls,” said Fiona Frazer, the head of the human rights service at the U.N. mission in Afghanistan.

The Taliban rejected the U.N. report.

CNN’s Jennifer Hauser contributed to this report

 

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Afghanistan’s Taliban govt says morality law will be ‘gently’ enforced​

AFP

KABUL: Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities said Monday a recently ratified morality law would be enforced “gently”, after the international community and Afghans voiced concern over new restrictions.

Women must cover completely and not raise their voices in public, according to a 35-article law announced Wednesday by the justice ministry.

It imposes wide-ranging stipulations from behaviour to dress and social interactions, including rules on men’s clothing and beard length as well as bans on homosexuality, animal fighting, playing music in public and non-Muslim holidays.

The United Nations, rights groups and Afghans have expressed concern that the law could lead to increased enforcement of the rules, many already informally in place since the Taliban authorities took power in 2021 and implemented a strict interpretation of Islamic law – or sharia.

“I must make it clear that force and oppression won’t be used while implementing these rules,” said deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat in a voice message he shared with AFP.

The rules “would be implemented very gently, informing people’s understanding, and guiding them”, he said.

The Taliban government has consistently dismissed international criticism of their policies, including condemnation of restrictions on women the UN has labelled “gender apartheid”.

The law sets out graduated punishments for non-compliance – from verbal warnings to threats, fines and detentions of varying lengths – enforced by the morality police under the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.

Roza Otunbayeva, head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, has called the law a “distressing vision for Afghanistan’s future, where moral inspectors have discretionary powers to threaten and detain anyone based on broad and sometimes vague lists of infractions”.

 

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Taliban chief tells Afghan officials to enforce new morality law​

AFP
September 2, 2024

Afghan girls from a madrassa walk along a road in Balkh province’s Sholgara district on Sunday. — AFP
Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has ordered Afghan officials to enact a sweeping new morality law curtailing women’s rights and enshrining an austere vision of Islamic society.

Taliban authorities last month announced the law, which includes rules that women’s faces, bodies and voices should be “covered” outside the home, among 35 articles dictating behaviour and lifestyle.

While many of the measures have been informally enforced since the Taliban’s takeover in 2021, their formal codification sparked an outcry from the international community and rights groups.

Akhundzada told civil and military officials “they should implement … the law of promoting virtue in society”, a statement by the Information and Culture Department of Faryab province said.

The reclusive Akhundzada rules by decree from a hideout in southern Kandahar province but made the order in a rare trip to northern Faryab last week, according to the statement released on Sunday.

The new law prohibits women from raising their voices in public and requires them to cover their entire body and face if they need to leave their homes, which they should only do “out of necessity”.

Men’s behaviour and dress are also strictly regulated under the edict, which instructs them not to wear shorts above the knee or to trim their beards closely.

Other parts of the law dictate prayer attendance as well as bans on keeping photos of living beings, homosexuality, animal fighting, playing music in public and non-Muslim holidays.

The law sets out graduated punishments that morality police are empowered to dole out, from verbal warnings to threats, fines and detentions of varying lengths.

The head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, called the law a “distressing vision for Afghanistan’s future”.

Akhundzada was in Faryab on Friday after visiting Badghis province in his first official visit to northern Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover, Faryab’s Department of Information and Culture head Shamsullah Mohammadi told AFP