< strong>The Taliban's Ministry of Morality has fired more than 280 members of the security forces for not growing beards and detained more than 13,000 people in Afghanistan for "immoral acts" in the last year, said officials quoted by Reuters, quoted by News.bg.
The Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Propagation of Virtue said in its annual operational update that about half of the detainees were released after 24 hours. The agency did not disclose the nature of the alleged crimes or the gender of the detainees.
Mohibula Mohlis, director of planning and legislation at the ministry, told a news conference that officers destroyed 21,328 musical instruments last year and prevented thousands of computer operators from selling "immoral and unethical" movies in the markets.
It identified 281 members of the security forces who did not have beards, and they were dismissed in accordance with the Taliban's interpretation of Islamic law.
The Ministry of Morals, which moved into the premises of the disbanded Women's Ministry in Kabul after the Taliban took over in 2021, has been criticized by rights groups and the United Nations for restricting women and hindering freedom of expression.
The United Nations Mission in Afghanistan reported cases of Ministry of Morals officers stopping and detaining women, sometimes for several hours, for not conforming to their interpretation of Islamic dress.
The Taliban called the detention allegations "baseless" and said the rules apply their interpretation of Islamic law and Afghan customs.
The Ministry of Morals did not provide figures on police monitoring of women's clothing or their traveling without a male guardian, which authorities have also banned for longer distances. The agency said it is working on a new plan to ensure compliance with Islamic dress codes overseen by the supreme spiritual leader, based in the southern city of Kandahar.
"Based on the guidance of the Supreme Leader, the draft plan for the observance of women's hijab (Islamic dress) has been formulated and approved," said Mohlis.
The Ministry of Morals has previously said that women must cover their faces or wear the full burqa, and that enforcement will include "encouraging," targeting the male members of the women's family, not the women themselves directly.
Most Afghan women covered their hair in public in the conservative country even before the Taliban took over, but some, especially in Kabul, did not usually cover their faces or wear a burqa.
Mohlis said they prevented just over 200 cases of the sale of women and over 2,600 cases of violence against women.