KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban morality police have detained six individuals in Afghanistan’s northern Balkh province, accusing them of engaging in relationships outside of marriage.
The Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, which oversees the morality police, said in a statement on Thursday that these individuals were arrested in Mazar-i-Sharif, the provincial capital.
The ministry did not provide further details about these individuals, and their fate remains unknown.
The ministry also stated that the morality police are working around the clock to arrest individuals involved in what it describes as “moral corruption” across Afghanistan.
According to the statement, the regime’s morality police have recently arrested dozens of individuals in other provinces on similar charges.
This follows the enactment of the new “Vice and Virtue” law, recently approved and published, which grants the morality police broad and arbitrary powers to enforce restrictions, arrest, and punish individuals.
The 35-article law imposes further restrictions on the personal freedoms and rights of Afghan people, especially women and girls. The UN has described these measures as presenting a “distressing vision” for Afghanistan’s future.
The law mandates that women should not speak in public places and must wear clothing that completely covers their bodies and faces to avoid temptation and prevent tempting others.
The laws also require that drivers do not transport women without the presence of a male companion.
For men, the law prohibits shaving their beards, skipping prayers, or missing religious fasts.
The law outlines a range of punishments for non-compliance, including verbal warnings, threats, fines, arrests lasting from one hour to three days, and other penalties requested by the morality police. Repeated offenses will result in referral to the courts.
These regulations are part of a broader trend of draconian gender rules that have effectively removed women and girls from public life. Under Taliban rule, women and girls have been stripped of their basic rights and freedoms, which the UN has described as “gender apartheid.”
