Law Banning Broadcast of Living Beings’ Images Will Gradually Be Implemented, Says Taliban

A spokesman for the Taliban's Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice said that the group would gradually implement a law prohibiting the publication of images of living beings in all media.

Saif Khyber told AFP that efforts have been launched to ban the broadcast of the live image in the media in some provinces.

On Monday, October 14, Khyber said that the law banning the publication of the image of living beings in the media will be implemented "gradually" across Afghanistan.

Taliban officials are currently trying to convince the public that broadcasting live images of living beings in the media is a "violation of Islamic law", he added.

However, the Taliban official claimed that "coercion" has no place in the implementation of the group's laws. "This is just advice and [an attempt] to convince people that this is really against Sharia and should be avoided," he added.

In addition to banning the broadcast of live images, the Taliban's new law will also impose other regulations on the media, AFP reported. These include banning publications that are "contrary to Islamic law" and content that "insults Islam”.

According to the report, the law will also advise citizens not to take pictures of living creatures on their personal phones or look at their images.

A spokesman for the Taliban's Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has said that efforts to implement the law banning the distribution of images of living creatures in the media have begun in a few provinces, but not all provinces.

Implementation of the law has begun in Kandahar, Helmand and Takhar provinces, he said.

On Sunday, officials from the Taliban's Ministry of Virtue in Ghazni summoned local journalists and told them that the law banning the publication of images of living beings would be implemented gradually, AFP reported.

At the meeting, the Taliban advised journalists to film fewer events to "get used to the work", a journalist said.

Yesterday, local sources in Takhar said that Taliban officials, during a meeting with journalists and local media officials, issued an order to completely ban photography and video reporting in the province. They emphasised that visual media should be transformed into radio.

In February, sources in Kandahar province told Afghanistan International that Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada had verbally instructed the group's officials not to give video interviews. A source at the Kandahar National Television said that human presence on television screens has been banned.

In the past three years, the Taliban has imposed widespread restrictions and repression on the media. The Taliban's actions against the media have led to many journalists, especially women, leaving the profession. As a result of the restrictions, a large number of media outlets have also been forced to stop their broadcasts.

When the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, 8,400 media workers were active in the country, AFP reported. According to the report, this number now reaches 5,100 people.

During the first period of its rule, from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban banned taking photos and videos and watching television. This group had also declared the painting of living beings and music to be illegal and prohibited.

However, the Taliban now extensively use social networks and visual media under the group's control to broadcast images of their officials and for propaganda purposes.