The Taliban have imposed numerous bans and restrictions on female journalists over the past three years. According to the Taliban’s directives, women are prohibited from appearing on television shows and hosting programs without covering their faces. Additionally, the Taliban have banned the presence of female voices in the media in several provinces and ordered local radio stations to refrain from broadcasting the voices of women.
In November 2021, the Taliban ordered female journalists and media workers to avoid appearing on television shows in Afghanistan. Female journalists and presenters were required by the Taliban to cover their faces completely. This move has led many women to abandon their duties due to these restrictions and security threats, and many have fled Afghanistan.
The group has also labeled taking photos as a “major sin.” Mohammad Hashim Shaheed Wror, the Taliban’s Director General of Invitation and Guidance, stated during a seminar in Kabul: “Media employees, you should grow beards and stop engaging in these activities. Do not spend all your time taking pictures.
By God, taking pictures is a major sin.” Covering Female Presenters’ Faces on Media On November 22, 2021, the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice issued an eight-article directive banning the portrayal of female actors in television dramas in Afghanistan. The ministry ordered female journalists and television presenters to observe the Taliban’s dress code and cover their faces during broadcasts.
Following this directive, many women in the media were forced to leave their jobs or were compelled to quit. According to this Taliban directive, female presenters must adhere to the group’s interpretation of Islamic dress codes. Additionally, the airing of series and shows featuring female actors was banned.
Ban on Women’s Voices in Media On Sunday, December 12, 2021, the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee (AJSC) announced that the Taliban had banned the broadcasting of female voices in the provinces of Balkh, Takhar, and Jawzjan. According to the committee, the Taliban imposed similar restrictions on the attire of female journalists, the airing of serials, films, and advertisements in these provinces, as well as in Ghor province. The Taliban also banned the broadcasting of female voices in Kandahar province, including cooking and religious programs.
The Taliban’s Information and Culture Directorate in this province ordered media outlets to avoid contacting women or inviting them to their programs. This decision was made during a local Taliban officials’ meeting on Wednesday, December 28, 2022, in Kandahar. Taliban intelligence officials in Kandahar province conveyed the group’s restrictions to several journalists in a meeting.
Hamim Arslan, head of the Taliban’s Intelligence Media Office, stated during that meeting that the media should prepare to stop employing women and reduce the need for female employees. In the presence of officials from the Ministries for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, Hajj and Religious Affairs, Higher Education, Information and Culture, and the police command, Arslan verbally communicated eleven points that media outlets were required to implement. According to this directive, women are prohibited from making phone calls to radio and television programs.
Offices for men and women in media outlets must be separated, and female employees must adhere to the group’s dress code. One of the points in this directive stated that joint programs with male and female presenters are prohibited, and women interviewed by the media must wear hijabs; otherwise, the interview will not be broadcast. According to this directive, women interviewed remotely (via Zoom or Skype) by the media must also adhere to the Taliban’s dress code.
The group also banned all phone calls from girls and women to radio and television stations in Khost province. On Saturday, February 24, 2024, the Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) published a copy of an official letter signed by Abdul Rashid Omari, the Taliban’s police chief in Khost province. In the letter, media outlets in Khost were warned that if they facilitated phone calls from girls to the media, they would be summoned and interrogated.
The letter stated: “Some private radio stations in Khost promote moral corruption, an example of which is the broadcasting of school lessons or social programs in which many girls participate.” The Taliban in Khost claimed: “By misusing these educational and social programs, girls make unauthorized phone calls with program hosts during official and unofficial hours. These phone calls not only lead to moral corruption in society but are also contrary to Islamic principles.
” Erasing Women’s Images and Paintings from the City The Taliban ordered the removal of images of women in beauty salons and commercial business centers in Kabul and other provinces. According to this order, no one is allowed to display pictures or statues of women in the city or their shops. On Monday, December 20, 2021, the Taliban’s Municipality of Kabul announced that the process of “removing non-Islamic images from signs, advertisements, and billboards is underway.
” Photos shared by the Kabul Municipality at that time showed many images of women in beauty salons and shops being painted over. In addition to the Taliban’s orders, some residents of the capital, out of fear of retaliation, took it upon themselves to remove images of women from the walls of their shops. Most of these images and posters were placed in women’s beauty salons, and citizens, fearing the Taliban would destroy their shops, destroyed the images themselves.
Ban on Women in Wedding Halls On Wednesday, October 6, 2021, the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice issued regulations for holding wedding ceremonies. These regulations included banning live music, separating male and female wedding halls, and prohibiting the marriage ceremony from taking place before the meal service. Previously, wedding halls had male and female sections separated by a curtain, but the Taliban stated that “partitions” were not acceptable as the sound from the women’s section could be heard in the men’s section and vice versa.
In addition to restricting wedding halls, Taliban morality police have also beaten women at wedding ceremonies. Local sources confirmed to the Hasht-e Subh Daily on Wednesday, June 4, 2022, that Taliban morality police disrupted a wedding ceremony in Fayzabad, the capital of Badakhshan province, and beat women and girls. Beating Female Journalists Female journalists were beaten by the Taliban while covering women’s protests in Kabul.
These female journalists were present on Thursday, October 21, 2021, to cover the protests of women protesters when they were tortured by the Taliban. Images shared on social media showed journalists and protesters being beaten by Taliban fighters. A female journalist named Salgai Ehsas claimed in July 2022 that she had been beaten by the Taliban in the Balabagh area of Surkh Rod district in Nangarhar province.
She told the media that the Taliban fired at her, insulted her, and struck her head and back with a gun. At that time, the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) under SAARC issued a statement condemning the attack on this female journalist. The organization called on the Taliban to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.
According to this journalists’ rights organization, Salgai Ehsas was beaten, lost consciousness, and was taken to a hospital by residents. Breaking Mannequins and Banning the Use of Women’s Pictures and Statues Over the past three years, the Taliban repeatedly broke mannequins and banned the use of women’s pictures and statues in shops and advertising posters, calling them un-Islamic. On December 27, 2021, the Herat Chamber of Commerce, Artisans, and Shopkeepers, at the direction of the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, sent a letter to the city’s businesses stating that the use of women’s pictures and statues in shop banners was prohibited.
The letter, issued by the Chamber of Commerce, Artisans, and Shopkeepers, stated that the use of pictures, advertising banners, and statues (mannequins) was against Sharia law, and all photos must be headless. Previously, the Hasht-e Subh Daily had reported several times that the Taliban had decapitated mannequins in shops. The group’s morality police in Herat did not just declare mannequins to be forbidden; they also removed the heads from the mannequins’ bodies.
This led shopkeepers to cover the heads of mannequins with black bags. Reactions to Restrictions Against Women in the Media On Monday, November 22, 2021, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reacted to the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice directive, stating that this order removed the image of women from the media and imposed a “self-imposed compulsory hijab” on female journalists. Christophe Deloire , RSF’s Director General, said: “The coercion imposed on female journalists to cover their faces while broadcasting is one of the Taliban’s efforts to limit media freedom.
RSF expresses solidarity with the courageous journalists who continue to work in the country and calls on the Taliban to repeal this archaic rule and allow journalists to work without restrictions.” On Tuesday, March 8, 2022, the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee announced that since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, one thousand female journalists had lost their jobs. According to this committee, out of 1,300 female journalists, only 300 had been able to continue their work until that time.
The committee described the situation for female journalists in the country as concerning. Human Rights Watch, reacting to the Taliban’s mandatory directive requiring female presenters to cover their faces on television, stated that these restrictions were a clear violation of women’s rights to freedom of expression, personal autonomy, and religious beliefs. On Monday, May 23, 2022, this organization stated that the Taliban’s restrictions against female presenters also hinder access to information for the deaf and hard of hearing, who rely on visual speech cues.
Afghanistan has been ranked last out of 177 countries in terms of the status of women, being labeled the worst country in the world for women, according to an international ranking. Torunn L. Tryggestad, the President of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), stated: “Since 2021, Afghanistan has consistently held the position of the worst place in the world for women.
Afghan women wake up every day with no job, no education, and no independence in their lives. This report should serve as a wake-up call for world leaders that an entire nation of women is imprisoned.” The United Nations Secretary-General expressed concern over the Taliban’s mandate requiring women to cover their faces in public and to leave their homes only when necessary: “I am deeply concerned by the Taliban’s announcement today that women must cover their faces in public and may only leave their homes when necessary.
I again urge the Taliban to uphold their promises to Afghan women and girls and to adhere to their obligations under international human rights law.” On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, the Afghanistan Journalists Center revealed that over the past three years, the Taliban have issued at least 17 media directives that contradict media laws. According to the organization, these directives cover a wide range of media-related matters, including banning women from working the national radio and television, segregating men and women in media workplaces, prohibiting interviews between men and women, and imposing other restrictions.
Reporters Without Borders reported that since August 15, 2021, more than 80% of female journalists have been forced to leave their jobs under the Taliban’s two-year rule. The organization noted that 2023 has been a year of distancing for female journalists, as the Taliban’s restrictions on women in the media have continued unabated. In the past 19 years, 132 journalists have been killed in Afghanistan, with the previous government attributing 67% of these killings to the Taliban.
In addition to the restrictions on female journalists, male journalists have also reported feeling terrified, repressed, and hopeless, forcing them to resort to self-censorship to survive. Recently, the Human Rights section of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released a 30-page report titled “De Facto Authorities’ Moral Oversight in Afghanistan: Impacts on Human Rights” The report highlights human rights violations committed by the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. According to the report, this Taliban body has violated the privacy of both men and women and has carried out 1,033 instances of arbitrary punishment.
UNAMA documented 205 cases of mistreatment against women and 828 cases against men, all perpetrated by the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. You can read the Persian version of this daily report here: ممنوعیت تصویر و صدای زنان در رسانهها؛ طالبان در پی ممنوعیت کامل زنان از رسانهها هستند | روزنامه ۸صبح.
