Taliban reinforces media ban on broadcasting of living images in Afghanistan's Faryab province

United News of India

01-05-2025

Kabul, May 1 (UNI) The Afghan Taliban, in line with their hardline Islamic fundamentalist teachings, have reinforced their media ban on the broadcasting of images and representations of living beings, extending its ban to the country's Faryab province.
According to Amu TV, the decision was announced during a meeting on Tuesday, April 29, led by provincial officials after a review of Article 17 of the Taliban's 'Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice' law. Officials reportedly instructed local media outlets to cease publishing or broadcasting images of living creatures.
The ban has reportedly been extended to at least 17 provinces, with the Taliban-run National Television limiting its broadcasts to audio reports only. Local sources also reported that private television channels in these provinces have been barred from airing visual images.
The prohibition stems from a law signed by Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada in September 2024, which explicitly bans the broadcast of images depicting living beings.
The law, implemented by Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban's acting Minister for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, has already been enforced in provinces largely under the influence of Taliban leadership.
As per Amu's findings, National Television in provinces such as Kandahar, Takhar, Badghis, Helmand, Nangarhar, Nuristan, Farah, Nimroz, Baghlan, Badakhshan, Jawzjan, Zabul, Parwan, Kunduz, Panjshir, Bamyan, and most recently Faryab, has restricted its content to audio broadcasts.
According to Taliban-controlled media, the enforcement of the ban has sharply accelerated over the past month, with restrictions newly imposed in eight provinces during that period.
Article 17 of the Taliban's 'Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice' law details the restrictions on the media, including a ban on publishing or broadcasting images of living people and animals, which the Taliban regards as un-Islamic. Other sections order women to cover their bodies and faces and travel with a male guardian, while men are not allowed to shave their beards. The punishment for breaking the law is up to three days in prison or a penalty 'considered appropriate by the public prosecutor.'
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, since taking power in Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, the Taliban have employed a gradual strategy to suppress media activity in the country, with the General Directorate of Intelligence forcing compliance with stringent regulations. These include bans on music and soap operas, bans on women's voices in the media, the imposition of mask-wearing for female presenters, a ban on live broadcasts of political shows, the closure of television stations, and the jamming or boycotting of independent international networks broadcasting to Afghanistan. To enforce these policies, the Taliban have detained, assaulted, and threatened journalists and media workers throughout the country.
Television and pictures of living things were banned across the country under the previous Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001.