Afghanistan. No photos of living creatures, no videos from a greater distance. New guidelines for the press

The spokesman for the Afghan Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice announced the implementation of a ban on publishing images of living beings, which, according to the Taliban, is contrary to Islamic law, the Arab News website reported on Monday.

– The new law will apply throughout the country, but will be implemented gradually, the spokesman told journalists, announcing that the authorities will convince publishers that “these things are contrary to Sharia and should be avoided.”

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“On Sunday, authorities in the central province of Ghazni summoned local journalists to inform them that the morality police will gradually implement the new law. They advised reporters to take photos from a greater distance and film fewer events to develop the habit,” one of them told AFP journalists.

Interestingly, despite the announcement of the new law, government officials still regularly publish photos of people on social media, the agency noted.

When the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, there were 8,400 journalists and media workers employed in the country. Currently, there are 5,100 people left in the profession, of which only 560 are women.

AFP added that Afghanistan also dropped from 122nd to 178th place out of 180 countries in the press freedom index compiled by the non-governmental international organization Reporters Without Borders.

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Although the Quran, the holy book of Islam, does not prohibit the creation of images of humans or animals (it does condemn all idolatry), such suggestions are found in hadith: stories about the life of the Prophet Muhammad, written later than the Quran.

Muhammad allegedly claimed that angels would not enter a house containing paintings, and that artists creating images of people or animals would be severely punished after death.