WORST PLACE ON EARTH TO BE A WOMAN

Despite promises of a moderate rule for women in Afghanistan, in the three years since seizing power from the US-backed government the Taliban have imposed what human rights groups call a "gender apartheid”.

- JOHN DOBSON

As if things weren't already bad enough for women in Afghanistan, last Wednesday its supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, made life even worse. He's now cracking down on the sound of women's voices in public. According to Akhundzada, 'a woman's voice is intimate and so should not be heard singing, reciting, or reading aloud in public'. So now, as well as being shrouded in public, Afghan women must "keep mum"!

Announcing a new set of vice and virtue laws under the Afghan Islamic regime, spokesman Maulvi Abdul Ghafar Farooq explained why they were needed: "Inshallah we assure you that this Islamic law will be of great help in the promotion of virtue and the elimination of vice", he claimed. Already, freedom of choice in everyday life has been curtailed for everyone in Afghanistan, including men. Farooq insisted that shaving or trimming of beards is prohibited by Sharia Law and men should have a beard that is at least the "length of a fist". Even the playing of music is prohibited and considered a sin, as it is "a form of corruption and causes displeasure to God". Music students caught performing in public face severe punishment, such as flogging, imprisonment or even execution. Recently, in the north-western region of Herat, officials from Afghanistan's Ministry of Vice were seen throwing musical instruments on a bonfire after collecting them from the city. Confirming that over 20,000 instruments had been "confiscated and destroyed" across the country, Vice Ministry spokesman Muhibullah Mukhlis said last week that "promoting music causes moral corruption and playing it will cause the youth to go astray".