Showcases with female mannequins in Herat, Afghanistan, will look headless.
Photo: SHAH MARAI/AFP / Getty Images
The Taliban ordered the clothing vendors of Herat, west of Afghanistan, decapitate the mannequins in their stores considering that the exhibition of women in the form of mannequins is against Islamic law.
The directive joins a series of measures by the Taliban to impose its strict vision of Islam, which limits public freedoms, especially to women and girls.
“We have asked the merchants to cut off the head of the mannequins, because it goes against the ‘sharia’ ”, confirmed on Wednesday Aziz Rahman, head of the service for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Herat, a city that has about 600,000 inhabitants and is the third largest city in the country.
Some merchants tried to dodge the order covering mannequins headBut that move did not make the Taliban happy. “If they just cover their heads, or hide the mannequin, the angel of Allah will not enter the store or their house to bless them,” Aziz Rahman said.
Since Tuesday, a video has circulated on social networks in which men are seen cutting the heads of female plastic mannequins with saws.
No women, models or mannequins
Several merchants from Herat expressed their discontent. “As you can see, they cut off the heads of the mannequins in the store,” laments Basheer Ahmed, complaining that each of his mannequins cost him 5,000 Afghanis, about $ 47. “When there is no model, how do you expect to sell your products?” He asked.
At the moment, the Taliban have not issued a national order on these plastic figures, which have no place in their strict interpretation of Islamic law, since it prohibits human representations.
During his first regime at the helm of the country, in the 1990s, the Taliban destroyed several historical statues of Buddhas, an action that caused stupor in the world.
Since they returned to power last year, the Islamists promise to be more moderate, to try to change their international image and receive humanitarian aid. But the truth is that they have imposed new restrictions, especially against women and girls.
Women are prohibited from traveling without a male companion
On December 26, the Taliban announced that women who want to travel long distances must be accompanied by a man from their close family, a sign of the regime’s hardening, despite its initial promises.
The recommendation, issued by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice and circulating on social networks, also asks drivers and taxi drivers to accept women in their vehicles only if they wear an “Islamic veil”.
“Women who travel more than 72 kilometers (44.7 miles) cannot make the trip if they are not accompanied by a close family member,” said the Ministry spokesman, Sadeq Akif Muhajir, who specified that the companion must be a man. .
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eldiariony.com
Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.