AJSO: New Taliban law deals ‘devastating blows’ to press freedom

The Afghanistan Journalists Support Organization (AJSO) condemned the Taliban's new morality law in a statement, saying it had dealt a “devastating blow” to press freedom and media activities in the country.

The organization noted that while restrictions on freedom of expression, media and individual freedoms have steadily increased during the past three years of Taliban rule, recent developments have also dashed the last remaining hope for some degree of media freedom.

In a statement, the organization warned that the new law effectively eliminates the few remaining female journalists in the country's media. The law also prohibits the display or broadcast of foreign media that depicts women or even living beings, a measure it calls the “final nail in the coffin” for media work in Afghanistan.

The organization added that anything the Taliban considers unfavorable can be censored under this new law, which will stifle freedom of expression. The organization emphasized the Taliban's complete ban on visual media, stating: “Television and websites without images of living beings are meaningless. As in the 1990s, only the Taliban-approved radio station Voice of Sharia and publications will be allowed, while everything else will fall under the ban on images of living beings.”

The Afghanistan Journalists Support Organization also responded to recent comments by Neda Mohammad Nadim, the Taliban Minister of Higher Education, who said that issues related to girls' education had been postponed indefinitely.

“Such tyranny, which deprives the people even of the right to ask questions, is unprecedented in modern history. Afghanistan is rapidly isolating itself from the world under Taliban rule and turning into a second North Korea,” the organization said.

The organization condemned the Taliban's new law and the minister's comments and called on international human rights organizations and press freedom advocates to raise their voices against these “oppressive restrictions” in Afghanistan and take concrete measures to prevent further erosion of freedoms.