Kabul. Dozens of Afghan women are taking part in an online protest movement with videos of themselves singing and showing only a small part of their faces, in protest against a new Taliban law stating that their voices should not be heard in public.
The Taliban government, which took power in August 2021, announced last week that it would enact a law to “promote virtue and prevent vice” in late July, which it said was in accordance with Sharia, Islamic law.
This law comprises 35 articles with a series of obligations, mainly regarding dress, and the prohibition for women to sing or recite poetry in public.
In response, Afghan women at home and abroad posted videos of themselves singing on social media, with captions such as “my voice is not forbidden” and “no to the Taliban.”
In one of the videos, which was reportedly filmed in Afghanistan, a woman sings dressed in black from head to toe, with a long veil covering her face.
“I was silenced for years to come,” she says. “I was imprisoned in my home for the sole crime of being a woman,” she adds.
Activist groups shared videos showing themselves with their fists raised or tearing up photos of Taliban supreme leader Emir Hibatullah Akhundzada, who rules Afghanistan by decree from his southern stronghold of Kandahar.
“The voice of a woman is the voice of justice,” chants a group of activists in another recording.
The new law stipulates that women may not sing or recite verses out loud in public, nor may they be heard outside their homes.
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– 2024-09-07 05:53:01
