Afghanistan: Taking photos is a “big sin,” according to a Taliban official

Afghan media reported on Wednesday that a senior Taliban official at the Ministry of Justice said that the two journalists committed a “grave sin” by taking pictures.

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Television and images of living creatures were banned under the previous Taliban regime from 1996 to 2001. But Taliban authorities have not issued a similar rule since returning to power in August 2021.

“Taking pictures is one of the major sins,” Muhammad Hashim Shaheed Roor, a senior official in the Ministry of Justice, said during a symposium held on Tuesday in Kabul, according to photos broadcast by several media outlets on Wednesday.

He added: “Our journalist friends, Afghan journalists, are still very preoccupied with this sin and are still inclined towards immorality.”

The authorities of Kandahar Province (south), the cradle of the Taliban movement, had previously ordered soldiers and civilian employees not to take pictures or film video clips showing “living creatures.”

But Mahmoud Azzam, spokesman for the governor of the governorate, told AFP that this ban does not include the media or the public.

Representations of humans and animals are generally absent in Islamic art. But for some Muslims, any image of living creatures should be prohibited.

Many media outlets have refrained from publishing pictures of humans and animals since the Taliban returned to power. However, ministries continued to publish photos of senior officials meeting with foreign dignitaries.