Taliban slammed over new law forcing women to cover up

The Taliban has been absolutely smashed internationally for its disgusting new rules for women. Now they say detractors are “arrogant”.

The Taliban has responded to the world condemning its latest morality ruling that requires women to remain covered up.

The Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice requires women to have clothing cover their entire body, bans their voices being heard in public and further restricts movements without a male relative.

The laws were introduced after hundreds of men who are unable to grow beards were sacked from security forces.

The Taliban has slammed criticism of its newest laws. Picture: Wakil KOHSAR / AFP

Ravina Shamdasani, Office for the High Commissioner on Human Rights’s chief spokesperson, said the Taliban’s law effectively makes women “effectively attempting to render them into faceless, voiceless shadows”.

She called it “utterly intolerable” and called on authorities to repeal the legislation.

Roza Otunbayeva, the United Nations’ top envoy to Afghanistan, also weighed in.

“After decades of war and in the midst of a terrible humanitarian crisis, the Afghan people deserve much better than being threatened or jailed if they happen to be late for prayers, glance at a member of the opposite sex who is not a family member, or possess a photo of a loved one,” she said in a statement.

She said that the world wanted to see Afghanistan on the path of “peace and prosperity”.

In a rare act, the Japanese Embassy also spoke out about its concerns, urging authorities to “listen to the voice of Afghan women and girls for education, employment, and freedom of movement”.

However, since then, the Afghanistan authorities have hit back.

The laws require women to be covered up and bans their voices in public. Picture: Noorullah Shirzada / AFP

Zabihullah Mujahid, the government’s chief spokesperson, said the law was “firmly rooted” in Islamic teachings, adding there was “arrogance” from those who were expressing objections.

“We urge a thorough understanding of these laws and a respectful acknowledgment of Islamic values. To reject these laws without such understanding is, in our view, an expression of arrogance,” he said, according to ABC News.

“We must stress that the concerns raised by various parties will not sway the Islamic Emirate from its commitment to upholding and enforcing Islamic law.”

Currently, the Taliban government isn’t recognised by any state.

However, it has made progress in recent times by attending UN-hosted talks on Afghanistan in Qatar.