According to Al-Jazeera, the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan has shut down a women-run radio station for playing music during the fasting month of Ramadan.
The only radio station in the nation that is run primarily by women is named Sadai Banowan, which translates to “women’s voice” in Dari.
Six of the eight employees are female.
The station was shut down as a result of playing songs and music during Ramadan, according to Moezuddin Ahmadi, the Taliban‘s director for communication and culture in the province of Badakhshan. He claimed that the station had broken multiple “rules and regulations of the Islamic Emirate.”
The station’s head, Najia Sorosh, denied that there was any violation, saying there was no need for the closure and called the action a “conspiracy”.
The Taliban “told us that you have broadcast music. We have not broadcast any kind of music,” she claimed.
Reports indicated that, local Afghan journalists who refuse to comply with the Taliban’s policies have been arrested, and put behind bars with some reporting abuse and torture after their release.
According to the Afghan Independent Journalists Association, many journalists in Afghanistan have reportedly lost their jobs after the Taliban takeover in August 2021 and many Media outlets have been closed over lack of funds or because their staff left the country.
The Taliban-led government has prevented women from most forms of employment and education beyond the sixth grade, including university; something which has continued to generate wider condemnation by global key players who are promoting girl child education in especially developing countries.
The latest sanction imposed by the Taliban regime on the Sadai Banowan is viewed by many human rights activists as a deliberate attempt to muzzle the press in Afghanistan.