Taliban leaders in Afghanistan have imposed new restrictions on women, including the requirement that they cover their faces and bodies at all times and a ban on public speaking, singing, and poetry recitation.
According to a ministry spokesman in a video message, the limitations are a part of a new “Vice and Virtue decree” released by the Taliban’s Justice Ministry on Wednesday following approval from their reclusive supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada.
Since the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan three years ago, the 35-article document is the first official declaration of the vice and virtue laws under their strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.
The decree, which covers daily activities like transportation, music, celebrations, shaving, and women’s behavior and appearance in public, severely restricts religious and personal freedoms.
The regulations aimed at Afghani women clarified that a woman’s voice is considered private and should not be heard when she sings, performs poetry, or reads aloud in public. It is forbidden for women to gaze upon men who are not their biological relatives or spouses, and vice versa.
In order to prevent temptation and the temptation of others, females are required by law to cover their faces and bodies whenever they are in public. It stressed that their apparel should not be too tight, slender, or short.
