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full screen A picture sent out by the Taliban’s prime minister’s office shows China’s ambassador to the country Zhao Sheng shaking hands with the Taliban regime last September. With the new law, it becomes prohibited. Photo: Taliban Prime Minister Media Office Via AP/TT
The Taliban regime in Afghanistan intends to gradually introduce a ban on publishing images of living beings in the media – but so far publishes images of people themselves.
– The law applies to all of Afghanistan. . . and it will be implemented gradually, says a spokesman for what the Taliban call the “Department for the Maintenance of Morality and the Prevention of Sin.”
People must be convinced that images of living creatures are against Islam, according to spokesperson Saiful Islam Khyber.
The actual implementation will begin in Kandahar and Helmand, he adds, provinces in the south where the Taliban are strong.
Journalists in Kandahar had received no information about the new law on Monday. In central Ghazni, however, journalists have been advised to, for example, take pictures from longer distances, in order to “get used to it”.
The law also includes prohibitions against mocking Islam, or disputing Islamic law.
So far, the Taliban’s own authorities regularly post pictures of people on social media, and release press photos with foreign dignitaries on them.
During the previous Taliban regime of 1996–2001, recordings and images of living creatures were prohibited.