Afghan province bans ‘living things’ images in media to comply with Taliban laws

An Afghan province has banned all media from showing images of living things to ensure compliance with the Taliban’s morality laws.

The decision on Thursday was announced by Information Ministry officials in Helmand, the latest province to crack down on broadcasting and photography of humans and animals.

In August, the country’s Vice and Virtue Ministry published laws regulating aspects of everyday life like public transportation, shaving, the media and celebrations reflecting authorities’ interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia.

Article 17 bans the publication of images of living beings.

Helmand officials said the filming and photography of living things would stop immediately.

They gave no further information about enforcement or exceptions.

Last week, Taliban run-media stopped showing images of living things in the provinces of Takhar, Maidan Wardak and Kandahar in observance of the laws.

Some private channels are reported to have also stopped running pictures and videos of living things to ensure compliance.

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.

Also on Thursday, the Information Ministry announced it had banned 400 books that clashed with Islamic and Afghan values.

The outlawed books have been collected from stores and publishing houses and replaced by religious texts, including the Qur’an.

A spokesman for the ministry, Khubaib Ghofran, wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Any book written according to the nefarious plans of enemies in order to destroy the thought, faith, unity and culture of this nation will be collected by the Ministry of Information and Culture.”