RASC News Agency: The Afghanistan Journalists’ Center has reported that the Taliban issued a new directive in Nangarhar, prohibiting officials under their administration from taking or publishing photographs and participating in video interviews with the media. Previously, the Taliban imposed similar restrictions in at least four other provinces, banning the publication of images depicting “living beings.” The Center noted that Nangarhar is now the fifth province where this prohibition has been formally announced and enforced. Expressing serious concern, the Afghanistan Journalists’ Center warned that such expanding restrictions pose severe risks to media operations and hinder public access to information.
According to local journalists, the Taliban’s Information and Culture Directorate in Nangarhar issued this latest ban on photography and video interviews to local media on Tuesday. This directive, reviewed by the Afghanistan Journalists’ Center, included a statement from Azizullah Mustafa, the Taliban’s Deputy Governor of Nangarhar, who instructed provincial and district officials to comply with a decree from Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and uphold the “Promotion of Virtue” law, which prohibits the use of images of living beings. Mustafa further clarified that, according to this directive, officials should avoid using any live imagery in their reports, replacing photos of individuals with symbols, logos, or images of their office buildings. He also instructed officials that if they provide interviews to the media, they should only do so in audio format.
Thus far, the ban on photography and video interviews has been enforced in Kandahar, Takhar, Badghis, and Helmand, resulting in increased restrictions on both local officials and journalists, and the closure of government and private TV stations in these areas. On August 22, the Taliban-led Ministry of Justice announced the ratification and implementation of the “Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” law. This law includes numerous restrictions on journalists and media outlets, including Article 17, which authorizes Taliban-appointed enforcers to prevent the publication of materials containing images of living beings.
The Afghanistan Journalists’ Center remarked that these escalating restrictions under the “Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” law further intensify the difficulties faced by journalists and media outlets, which have already contended with extensive limitations over the past three years, severely restricting press freedom in Afghanistan.
