Afghan Taliban vow to implement media ban on images of living things

KABUL: Afghanistan´s Taliban morality ministry pledged on Monday to implement a law banning news media from publishing images of all living things, with journalists told the rule will be gradually enforced.

It comes after the Taliban government recently announced legislation formalising their strict interpretations of Islamic law that have been imposed since they swept to power in 2021. “The law applies to all Afghanistan... and it will be implemented gradually,” the spokesman for the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (PVPV) Saiful Islam Khyber told AFP, adding that officials would work to persuade people that images of living things are against Islamic law.

“Coercion has no place in the implementation of the law,” he said. “It´s only advice, and convincing people these things are really contrary to sharia (law) and must be avoided.” The new law detailed several rules for news media, including banning the publication of images of all living things and ordering outlets not to mock or humiliate Islam, or contradict Islamic law.

Aspects of the new law have not yet been strictly enforced. Taliban officials continue to regularly post photos of people on social media. “Until now, regarding the articles of the law related to media, there are ongoing efforts in many provinces to implement it but that has not started in all provinces,” Khyber said.