The Morals Department in Afghanistan promised to enact legislation prohibiting news outlets from broadcasting pictures of any living creature. Reporters are informed that the regulation would be implemented progressively.
It follows the announcement of new laws by the Taliban rule, which formalizes the stringent views of Islamic doctrine that were being enforced since their 2021 takeover of the country by Taliban forces.
The Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (PVPV) spokesperson informed the media that the legislation is applicable across Afghanistan and would be enforced progressively. Authorities will try to convince individuals that depictions of living creatures are prohibited by Islamic rule, Saiful Islam Khyber stated.
According to the spokesman, compulsion has nowhere to go in the application of the Islamic law. “It’s just advising people that these things are actually against sharia (the law) and should be avoided.”
The recently passed law prohibited the publishing of pictures of any live object, among other media regulations. It forbids media from disparaging or demeaning Islam or breaking the Islamic regulation.
Strict enforcement of certain provisions of the new law has not yet been implemented. Among these is the public’s caution not to snap or view pictures of live beings on smartphones or other gadgets.
Taliban leaders still frequently share images of individuals on social media. Following the issue of the law, Afghan journalists and activists on media sectors were assured they could carry on with their job.
The call for response from the media was not promptly answered by the information minister of Taliban. According to Khyber, several provinces are now working to implement the media-related provisions of the law. That hasn’t begun in every province, though.
Gradual Enforcement
Enforcement has begun in northern Takhar, the neighboring Helmand province, and the Kandahar in the South. Taliban authorities in Kandahar were prohibited from photographing and recording living creatures before to the latest law’s announcement. News media outlets, however, were exempt from the regulation. According to Khyber, the restriction currently encompasses every person.
Local media were called by PVPV authorities in central Ghazni province yesterday. They were informed that the morality law enforcement would begin enforcing the rule progressively.
To develop the practice, they recommended that visual reporters shoot less frequently and capture pictures from a greater distance. At an analogous gathering, journalists in the region of Maidan Wardak have also been also informed that the regulations will be applied progressively.
During the first Taliban government, which ended in 2001 after five years, television and images of live beings were prohibited nationwide. However, following their retaking control over the country, no such decree has been widely enforced. Nevertheless, since 2021, authorities have occasionally compelled entrepreneurs to adhere to certain censorship regulations. The limitations include obscuring the eyes of fish depicted on food menus, concealing the head parts of store mannequins with grocery bags, and erasing out the features of people of both genders in advertisements.
There were 8,400 media activists in Afghanistan before the Taliban took over the nation. Based on experts in the media sector, there are just 5,100 people left in the field. Only 560 women, who have been subjected to the most restrictions, are included in the list of journalists in Afghanistan. The United Nations has referred to it as gender apartheid. Among the restrictions is the requirement to wear masks when on public television.
Female voice is prohibited on public media in Helmand. According to an assessment of 180 nations’ freedom of the press, Afghanistan has the 178th place.
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