On Sunday, the new transition period announced by the Islamist rulers in Afghanistan regarding the new chastity laws expired, resulting in women in the country having to cover almost all of their body parts in public.
The instruction applies to almost all ages, leaving in effect only exposing the hands and feet, and the eye area.
TOLOnews and other TV channels in Kabul on Sunday followed the order of the Ministry of Vice and Virtue regarding covering female presenters' faces.
The Ministry of Vice and Virtue named Sunday morning as the final deadline, and called this order mandatory ... 1/3 # TOLOnews pic.twitter.com/8ijXGWSjJj
- TOLOnews (@TOLOnews) May 22, 2022
But on the news channel TOLOnews decided to take a bold step and came out against the rulers.
They announced that although they were implementing the instruction according to their interpretation and tried to rebel until the Taliban forced them.
If that wasn’t enough, as a sign of solidarity with the colleagues at the station, the men working alongside them decided that they too would cover their faces on the broadcast and posed for pictures with them.
"We are implementing the decision as requested, but we make two arguments: the provision does not clearly address the face of women in television programs and in any case, the broadcasting of women on television is a virtual matter and is not legally a physical presence in public space."
Khatira Ahmadi, one of the presenters, was quoted as saying: "I can not speak or breathe properly, how can I run the program like that?"
From another approach, Sonia Nizai said: "We were not mentally and morally prepared for something like this to be imposed on us. It is very difficult to run a three-hour program under a mask."
The latest directive actually joins a series of measures against women who have been notified by the Taliban, including the abolition of girls' studies in the upper elementary classes.
Those who will be punished if a woman is caught without a proper head covering are the men in her home: her husband or another relative who is considered her caretaker.
If the warnings are not heeded, the men will be sent to jail or fired.
Recent moves are in fact closing the door for the time being on the possibility that the pragmatic current in the Taliban will rule the country and it seems that the intention of the Islamic rulers is to return to the dark days of the 1990s when it comes to women’s rights.
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