Amnesty International Denounces Taliban’s New Ban on Women Hearing Each Other’s Voices

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Amnesty International has condemned a recent Taliban decree prohibiting Afghan women from speaking or praying aloud within earshot of other women.

The international human rights organization denounced the restriction as a continuation of the Taliban’s draconian policies that have severely impacted all aspects of women’s lives in Afghanistan.

The criticism follows recent remarks by Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban’s Minister for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, who outlined further limitations on women’s voices. Amnesty stated that, following the Taliban’s ban on women speaking in public, new restrictions now extend even to private prayers, prohibiting women from praying audibly if another woman might hear.

Hanafi recently stated that the Taliban’s rules forbid women from singing, reciting, or speaking loudly. He added that adult women are prohibited from uttering religious phrases like “Alhamdulillah” or “Subhanallah” in the presence of other women. The regulations also ban women from announcing the call to prayer or using takbirs (expressions of faith).

Life under Taliban rule has posed significant challenges for all Afghans, particularly women and girls. The regime’s recently enacted 35-article “morality law” has intensified these hardships.

Ratified by the Taliban’s supreme leader in August, the law mandates that women must cover their entire bodies, including their faces, when outside the home. It also prohibits them from speaking or reading aloud in public, traveling unaccompanied on public transportation, or making eye contact with men outside their immediate family.

These escalating restrictions are part of a broader pattern that has already denied women education beyond sixth grade, barred them from employment in most sectors, and restricted their access to public spaces such as parks and gyms.

Amnesty International has called on the Taliban to immediately revoke all decrees and actions infringing on the human rights of Afghan women and girls.