Taliban bans media from showing images of people and animals

At least two TV channels in northern Afghanistan have stopped showing images of living beings, in line with new ­orders from morality police.

The Taliban flag flutters over a provincial branch building of National Radio Television of Takhar (RTA) in Taloqan, capital of northeastern Takhar province. Picture: AFP

At least two TV channels in northern Afghanistan have stopped showing images of living beings, in line with new ­orders from morality police.

The Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (PVPV) said on Tuesday it would start implementing a law banning the media from using photos and videos of things with souls – meaning people and animals.

The rules are part of legislation recently announced by ­Afghanistan’s Taliban government formalising a strict interpretations of Islamic law imposed since it swept to power in 2021.

The private Mah-e-Naw channel showed only its logo along with an audio broadcast on Tuesday evening (Wednesday AEDT). State broadcaster RTA showed national programming, which continues to show people and animals, instead of the usual evening provincial news.

PVPV officials, who refused to give their names, said all news media in the Takhar region had been banned from broadcasting images of living things.

Journalists in Takhar, who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisal, said provincial broadcasters had restricted their output after a meeting called by the PVPV.

“PVPV ordered all the ­Takhar regional (television) media that after the meeting they can do radio reports but cannot use visuals,” that include living things, or they would face legal action, one reporter said.

“After that journalists with national TV and other regional media will all be forced to obey.”

PVPV officials held meetings in at least two other provinces in recent days to inform journalists the law would be gradually implemented across the country.

Ministry spokesman Saiful Islam Khyber said the gradual implementation would be achieved by persuading people that images of living things were against Islamic law.

He said it was being enforced in several provinces, including Takhar. Among the law’s articles detailing sweeping rules of behaviour and lifestyle – many not yet strictly enforced – it also says media outlets must not mock Islam or contradict Islamic law.

Television and pictures of living things were banned across the country under the previous Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001, but this similar edict has so far not been broadly imposed since their return to power.

No other Muslim-majority country imposes similar restrictions, including Iran and Saudi Arabia. During their previous rule in the late 1990s, the Taliban banned most television, radio and newspapers altogether.

AFP