RASC News Agency: Amnesty International has raised urgent concerns over the plight of women in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, highlighting that women’s rights are facing profound and intensifying assaults affecting every aspect of their lives. In response to recent remarks by the Taliban’s Minister for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice regarding restrictions on women’s voices in public spaces, Amnesty declared: “Following the prohibition against women speaking in public, the Taliban now assert that women are forbidden from praying loudly enough for another woman to hear.”
Amnesty International condemned these restrictions as “unforgivable,” asserting that Taliban policies have turned Afghanistani women’s lives into a form of purgatory. The organization has called for an immediate cessation of all Taliban directives and measures that infringe upon the fundamental human rights of women and girls. In an earlier statement, Khalid Hanafi, Taliban’s Minister for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, claimed that under the Taliban’s interpretation of Islamic guidelines, “Women are not permitted to sing, recite, or raise their voices.” Hanafi went on to say that adult women should refrain from uttering phrases such as “Alhamdulillah” or “Subhanallah” in the presence of another adult woman. Additionally, he noted that women are barred from giving the call to prayer (Adhan) or speaking loudly.
Hanafi argued that the Taliban doctrine mandates women to conceal their faces “to prevent discord,” and asserted that a woman’s voice itself is considered a part of her ‘Awrah,’ which, according to their beliefs, must remain hidden. Since the Taliban’s resurgence, Afghanistani women and girls have been systematically marginalized and face unprecedented restrictions. Currently, girls above sixth grade are barred from attending schools and universities, and women are effectively prohibited from participating in most forms of employment, marking a severe regression in women’s rights across the country.
