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KABUL: An Afghan woman sings in a video that shows a small part of her face, one of dozens of women taking part in an online singing competition. Object Against a law that prevents women from raising their voices in public places.
Taliban Authorities announced the law last week, which includes rules requiring women to “cover” their faces, bodies and voices outside the home, among 35 articles defining behaviour and lifestyle.
In response, Afghan women Activists from inside and outside the country posted videos on social media of themselves singing, with the hashtags “My voice is not banned” and “No to the Taliban.”
In one video, said to have been filmed inside Afghanistan, a woman is seen singing, dressed in black from top to bottom, with a long veil over her face.
“You have silenced my voice for the foreseeable future… You have imprisoned me in my home for the crime of being a woman,” she says.
Groups of female activists have posted videos of themselves raising their fists or tearing up pictures of the Taliban's supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, who rules by decree from the southern city of Kandahar.
In another video, a group of activists chant: “The voice of women is the voice of justice.”
In another video, X user Taiba Suleimani sings while adjusting her hijab in front of the mirror.
“A woman’s voice is her identity, not something to hide,” she says.
The morality law, known as “enjoining good and forbidding evil,” formalizes many of the rules already in place since the Taliban seized power in 2021.
It states that women should not sing or read aloud in public or allow their voices to reach beyond the walls of their homes.
“When an adult woman has to leave her home out of necessity, she must cover her face, body and voice,” the text reads.
The law refers to women's voices as “awrah” – a term used in Islamic law to refer to the intimate parts of a man or woman that must be covered.
Women and men are not allowed to look at members of the opposite sex who are not close relatives, and taxi drivers are not allowed to transport female passengers without male guardians, according to the law.
When the Taliban authorities came to power, they implemented a strict interpretation of Islamic law.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has dismissed criticism of the law as “arrogance” and a misunderstanding or disrespect for Islamic law.
Women have borne the brunt of restrictions imposed over the past three years that have restricted education as well as access to public places and many jobs and which the United Nations has described as “gender apartheid.”
The United Nations and other international bodies have condemned the new law, saying it increases pressure on women's rights.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called on Tuesday for the law to be repealed, describing it as “totally unacceptable.”
“This law entrenches policies that completely erase women’s presence in public spaces – silencing their voices, denying them their individual autonomy, and effectively trying to turn them into faceless, voiceless shadows,” said Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the organization.
Taliban Authorities announced the law last week, which includes rules requiring women to “cover” their faces, bodies and voices outside the home, among 35 articles defining behaviour and lifestyle.
In response, Afghan women Activists from inside and outside the country posted videos on social media of themselves singing, with the hashtags “My voice is not banned” and “No to the Taliban.”
In one video, said to have been filmed inside Afghanistan, a woman is seen singing, dressed in black from top to bottom, with a long veil over her face.
“You have silenced my voice for the foreseeable future… You have imprisoned me in my home for the crime of being a woman,” she says.
Groups of female activists have posted videos of themselves raising their fists or tearing up pictures of the Taliban's supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, who rules by decree from the southern city of Kandahar.
In another video, a group of activists chant: “The voice of women is the voice of justice.”
In another video, X user Taiba Suleimani sings while adjusting her hijab in front of the mirror.
“A woman’s voice is her identity, not something to hide,” she says.
The morality law, known as “enjoining good and forbidding evil,” formalizes many of the rules already in place since the Taliban seized power in 2021.
It states that women should not sing or read aloud in public or allow their voices to reach beyond the walls of their homes.
“When an adult woman has to leave her home out of necessity, she must cover her face, body and voice,” the text reads.
The law refers to women's voices as “awrah” – a term used in Islamic law to refer to the intimate parts of a man or woman that must be covered.
Women and men are not allowed to look at members of the opposite sex who are not close relatives, and taxi drivers are not allowed to transport female passengers without male guardians, according to the law.
When the Taliban authorities came to power, they implemented a strict interpretation of Islamic law.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has dismissed criticism of the law as “arrogance” and a misunderstanding or disrespect for Islamic law.
Women have borne the brunt of restrictions imposed over the past three years that have restricted education as well as access to public places and many jobs and which the United Nations has described as “gender apartheid.”
The United Nations and other international bodies have condemned the new law, saying it increases pressure on women's rights.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called on Tuesday for the law to be repealed, describing it as “totally unacceptable.”
“This law entrenches policies that completely erase women’s presence in public spaces – silencing their voices, denying them their individual autonomy, and effectively trying to turn them into faceless, voiceless shadows,” said Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the organization.
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