Taliban Forces Female TV Newsreaders To Cover Up Their Faces Under New Ruling

The Taliban has ordered all female TV news anchors to cover their faces while on-air in a new ruling that was enforced from Sunday (May 22).

The move comes after Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities returned to a hardline policy of the past that required women to cover their faces in public.

The move has been met with anger and protest both in the middle-eastern country and abroad. 

The new ruling pertaining to TV personnel was announced Thursday (May 19), however, only a few news outlets complied. 

Never imagined this day! pic.twitter.com/NNiSMkvwDZ

— Lotfullah Najafizada (@LNajafizada) May 22, 2022

On Sunday, the majority of female anchors were seen with their faces covered after the Taliban’s Ministry of Vice and Virtue began enforcing the rule.

A spokesperson for the Taliban, Akif Mahajar said: “Yesterday we met with media officials… they accepted dour advice very happily.”

Not so much ‘advice’ as an order, with Mahajar adding: “The last date for face covering for TV presenters is May 21.”

Whilst the Information and Culture Ministry announced the policy as ‘final and non-negotiable’. 

TOLOnews TV anchor, Sonia Niazia told AFP, as reported by France 24: “TOLOnews was pressured and told that any female presenter who appeared on screen without covering her face must be given some other job or simply removed.

“TOLOnews was compelled and we were forced to wear it.”

In an act of solidarity with his female colleagues, Sebghat Sepehr presents the main TOLOnews 6pm bulletin, masked. Respect to @SepehrSebghat and the entire @TOLOnews team pic.twitter.com/TbirAIu51P

— Saad Mohseni (@saadmohseni) May 22, 2022

She added: “It is just an outside culture imposed on us forcing us to wear a mask and that can create a problem for us while presenting our programs.”

Male personnel from the same news station also covered their faces with masks in an act of solidarity, with main evening newsreader Nesar Nabil pictured with a face mask.

Fellow TOLOnews presenter, Yada Ali, posted a video to Twitter where she is seen putting on her face mask.

She captioned the video: “A woman being erased, on orders from the Virtue and Vice Ministry.”

جریان امده شدن امروز برای برنامه
زنان امروز درتاریخ فردا یاد خواهد شدhttps://t.co/dCUwDmKWAC pic.twitter.com/tpbidqNKao

— Yalda Ali (@Yalda__Ali) May 19, 2022

The Taliban had been harsh rulers of Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, banning women from education and work.

During those years it was mandatory for women to wear the full-body burqa, which covers the face with sight only allowed through a mesh window. 

Despite claims for a more modern government, they are yet to allow older girls to restart their education and have introduced mandates for women and girls to wear veils and have male relatives accompany them in public places.