Taliban says it arrested women for ‘bad hijab’ as dozens go missing

Taliban’s latest harsh edict says those who go without hijab will be arrested

Afghan burqa-clad women sit as they wait to receive cash money in Pul-i-Alam (AFP via Getty Images/ Representative image)

The Taliban said they have been arresting women in Afghanistan’s cities over improperly worn hijab but did not specify how many are behind bars in the latest brutal crackdown by the hardline Islamist regime.

The Taliban started arresting women who, according to them, did not follow their strictly enforced dress code since August 2021, emulating Iran’s conservative rules of mandatory hijab.

It is not immediately clear how many women have been arrested by the Taliban’s local officials and how it describes “bad hijab”. The Taliban’s Vice and Virtue Ministry, a replacement of the ministry of women’s affairs, had first confirmed the arrests on Thursday.

“These arrests were to punish some groups who were trying to promote violation of hijab in some cities, and it was for a limited time,” Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid on Monday, reported Tolo news.

He added that the arrests took place by women police and the arrested women were given advice in the presence of their family members.

Photos and videos of arbitrary arrests since last week showed local Taliban fighters picking up women with covered heads in vehicles. Locals also reported intimidation from the Taliban officials in the event of protesting the arrests.

The Taliban’s Vice and Virtue Ministry spokesperson Abdul Ghafar Farooq said the arrests were made last Monday, citing complaints about “women not wearing hijab properly” in the Afghan capital and provinces for two-and-a-half years.

“These are the few limited women who spread bad hijab in Islamic society. They violated Islamic values and rituals, and encouraged society and other respected sisters to go for bad hijab,” he said. The Taliban interpret the Islamic Sharia laws and enforce them strictly, with women and girls facing the brunt of their hardline policies. With little to no opposition since they came to power, women’s rights have taken a severe blow.

The ban on girls attending school beyond sixth grade was the first of what in the second year of Taliban control became a flurry of restrictions that now keep Afghan girls and women from classrooms, most jobs, and much of public life.

The Taliban seized power on 15 August 2021 as US and NATO forces withdrew from the country after two decades of war.

The widespread arrests are the latest blow to Afghan women and girls, who have already been eliminated by the Taliban’s ultra fundamentalist regime which has banned them from education, employment and access to public spaces.

Despite the Taliban’s arbitrary arrests of women, the US has backed the UN Security Council’s resolution call for a UN Special Envoy for representing Afghanistan, in a step closer to allowing engagement with the Taliban’s regime.