Afghanistan's Taliban government has officially codified a comprehensive set of morality rules this week, the Justice Ministry announced. The regulations, which range from requiring women to cover their faces to prohibiting car drivers from playing music, are based on a decree issued by the Taliban's supreme spiritual leader in 2022.
Justice Ministry spokesperson Barakatullah Rasoli confirmed that the 35-article morality law was officially enacted and published on Wednesday after being ratified by Supreme Spiritual Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada. The rules, promoted as being in line with Islamic sharia law, will be enforced by the Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Propagation of Virtue.
"According to this law, the Ministry is obligated to promote good and forbid evil in accordance with Islamic Sharia," the Justice Ministry said in a statement.
The new regulations mandate that women wear attire fully covering their bodies and faces, while men are prohibited from shaving their beards. Other rules include bans on skipping prayer and religious fasts. Penalties for violations range from verbal warnings to detention for up to three days in public jails.
The Morality Ministry has already been enforcing similar requirements and reports detaining thousands of people for violations. It remains unclear whether the publication of these rules will lead to stricter enforcement.
This move has drawn sharp criticism from rights groups and many foreign governments, claiming this is a further restriction on women's rights and freedom of expression since the Taliban resumed control of Afghanistan in 2021.
"Day by day, they are trying to erase women from society," said Halema, a 37-year-old housewife in Kabul. "The silence of the international community regarding the actions of the Taliban is encouraging them to create new laws and restrictions every day."
Western capitals, led by Washington, have stated that formal recognition of the Taliban government is largely contingent on reversing course on women's rights and reopening high schools to girls. The Taliban, however, maintain that they respect women's rights in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic law and local customs.
The newly codified laws also instruct drivers not to transport women without a male guardian and require media to abide by sharia law, banning the publication of images containing living beings.
Heather Barr, Associate Director of Human Rights Watch's Women's Rights Division, commented on the situation: "A lot of these rules were in place already but less formally, and now they are being formalized. I think this is a sign of what we've been seeing over the last three years which is a steady and gradual escalation of the crackdown."
The morality ministry reported detaining over 13,000 people in the past year for alleged offenses, with approximately half of the detentions lasting 24 hours. The ministry did not provide a breakdown of the alleged offenses or the gender of the detainees.
Since taking control in 2021 as foreign forces withdrew, the Taliban suspended Afghanistan's previous constitution and declared they would rule the country according to sharia law. The Justice Ministry stated that this week's morality laws represent the seventh set of codified laws, with others relating to property, financial services, and the prevention of begging.
