Afghan journalists fear country going dark as Taliban bans images of ‘living things’

The Taliban’s ban on images and videos of “living things” will make it harder to cover Afghanistan, journalists in the country said.

The Afghan ministry for vice and virtue has directed media platforms in Maidan Wardak, Kandahar and Takhar provinces to not show images of “living things with a soul”, taken as meaning people and animals.

A ministry spokesperson, Saif ul Islam Khyber, confirmed to the Associated Press that Taliban-run media stopped showing images of living things in some provinces on Tuesday to comply with the new law.

The ban, part of a set of “morality laws” published by the ministry in August, does not extend to visuals of the Taliban’s more prominent leaders.

In effect, this means journalists can no longer take pictures or videos of people and animals. Photojournalists in particular fear that the restrictions will harm their livelihoods .

“What is allowed? Photos of buildings, banners, and empty spaces. Landscapes and mountains are also allowed for now,” an Afghan photojournalist told The Independent , speaking anonymously for fear of reprisal from the Taliban.

“It is a worsening situation for me and other photojournalists. This puts an end to our work of taking photos. If I don’t take pictures, then I don’t get paid. I get paid for the photographs I send to news agencies.”

The photojournalist, who freelances for an international news agency in southern Afghanistan, fears the prohibition, issued in keeping with the Taliban’s interpretation of Shariah law, is another weapon in their arsenal to harass media workers.

Afghanistan is the only country to impose such a prohibition, an eerie reminder of the Taliban’s previous rule in the late 1990s.

“Government officials harass photographers and bar us from taking pictures every time we are at a venue. We are also not openly accepted at media briefings and press events. Local Taliban leaders also stop us from taking pictures of women even if they are wearing hijab or burqa. The ban will pick up pace slowly in the coming days. I can only hope that foreign nations will step in and bring us out of Afghanistan,” he said.

A photojournalist who covered Afghanistan until the Taliban took Kabul by force and overthrew the Ashraf Ghani government in 2021 claims that the edict marks the beginning of the end for the outside world to witness atrocities and human rights violations in Afghanistan.

“Make no mistake, this is one of the last times the international community can have free access to photos and videos coming out of Afghanistan, some highlighting grave human right abuses,” Massoud Hossaini, a Pulitzer-winning Afghan-born photojournalist, said. “It will now come at the cost of the safety of media workers.”

Mr Hossaini, who worked for French news agency AFP, claims to have received death threats for doing his job even under the previous Western-backed government.

“You are taking pictures of women and men and everybody who does not want to be in the picture, and taking pictures is haram,” he says he was told by local Afghan leaders.

“We are warning you, if you do not stop this we will punish you in the Islamic way . They meant death, not just flogging or prison.”