The Taliban administration has imposed a ban on the publication and broadcast of images of living beings in local media across Panjshir province, in line with the group’s interpretation of Islamic law.

The Directorate of Information and Culture in Panjshir announced that the provincial governor, Mohammad Agha Hakim, has instructed all media and cultural institutions to fully enforce the Taliban’s “Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” regulations.

According to an official statement, Hakim made the directive during a session focused on interpreting the group’s virtue law and the decrees of its supreme leader. During the event, the formation of virtue enforcement committees in each district of Panjshir was also announced.

The Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) has previously reported that similar bans on the broadcast of images of living beings have already been enforced in more than 15 provinces, including Kandahar, Takhar, Badghis, Helmand, Nangarhar, Nuristan, Farah, Nimruz, Badakhshan, Baghlan, Jowzjan, Zabul, Parwan, Kunduz, Bamiyan, and Daikundi.

Media watchdog groups have raised alarms over the impact of such restrictions, warning that these measures severely curtail journalistic freedom and the public’s right to access visual information.

The Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice confirmed last year that its so-called virtue law had been formally ratified. Article 17 of the law specifically prohibits both the photographing and broadcast of images of living creatures. It grants enforcement officials the authority to monitor and prevent the dissemination of such images in the media.

The legislation has drawn widespread criticism both domestically and internationally for its impact on freedom of expression and access to information.

Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on the Afghan media, significantly limiting press freedom and instituting broad censorship policies throughout the country.