As the Taliban escalates its oppression of women and girls, the international community must hold Afghanistan's leaders accountable. Recognizing gender apartheid as a crime under international law would mark a historic step toward ending the systemic discrimination against women there, in Iran, and beyond.
EDINBURGH – Convinced that their interpretation of Islam is the only legitimate one, Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders continue to issue decrees that strip the country’s women and girls of their rights and freedoms. Their latest edict bans Afghan women – already prohibited from speaking in public – from praying aloud or reciting the Quran in the presence of other women. “When women are not permitted to call takbir [Allahu akbar] or athan [the Islamic call to prayer], they certainly cannot sing songs or music,” declared Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, the minister for the propagation of virtue and prevention of vice.
EDINBURGH – Convinced that their interpretation of Islam is the only legitimate one, Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders continue to issue decrees that strip the country’s women and girls of their rights and freedoms. Their latest edict bans Afghan women – already prohibited from speaking in public – from praying aloud or reciting the Quran in the presence of other women. “When women are not permitted to call takbir [Allahu akbar] or athan [the Islamic call to prayer], they certainly cannot sing songs or music,” declared Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, the minister for the propagation of virtue and prevention of vice.