Taliban bans images of living creatures

Published 18 October 2024
- By Editorial Staff
Taliban leaders during a press conference.

Afghanistan’s Taliban government has announced that images of people and animals will be banned. The country’s theocratic regime says images of living creatures are against Islamic law.

– The law applies to all Afghanistan… and it will be implemented gradually, the spokesman for the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (PVPV) Saiful Islam Khyber told AFP.

He states that “coercion has no place in the implementation of the law”, and that the country’s officials will instead focus on convincing the public that images of living beings are against Islamic law.

– It’s only advice, and convincing people these things are really contrary to sharia (law) and must be avoided.

The new law also contains several detailed rules for news media. In addition to not publishing films or photos of living beings, they have also been told not to mock or demean Islam or “violate Islamic law”.

“Applies to everyone”

In Ghazni province, officials urged assembled journalists to prepare for the changes by taking pictures from a longer distance than before and filming fewer big events “to get in the habit”. A similar meeting has also been organized in Maidan Wardak province.

Similar bans were in place when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001, and according to AFP, various forms of censorship rules have been re-imposed since the group regained control of the country.

Business owners and shopkeepers are reported to have been ordered to cross out the faces of men and women in advertisements, cover the heads of mannequins with plastic bags, and blur the eyes of fish depicted on restaurant menus, among other things.

Although images of living creatures are now banned, it appears that they are still being published, including by Afghan officials and government staff. According to Mr. Khyber, this is because “work has started” to implement the law across the country – but in practice it has not yet been applied in all provinces. However, he stresses that compliance with the law is expected and that it “now it applies to everyone“.

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