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Taliban begins enforcing rule banning 'images of living beings' in Afghan media

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Taliban begins enforcing rule banning 'images of living beings' in Afghan media

The Taliban is reportedly enforcing a ban against certain media outlets airing “images of living beings” in Afghanistan.

An Afghan official confirmed the news to the Associated Press on Tuesday. The militant group, through its Vice and Virtue Ministry, is currently enforcing the rule in certain provinces, and it is unclear when or if it will apply to all media outlets across the country, including foreign media.

The new rule reflects laws announced by the Vice and Virtue Ministry in August, which also banned women’s voices and bare faces. The legislation marked the first declaration of such rules in Afghanistan since the Taliban took over after the U.S. withdrawal.

Article 17 of the legislation, which was approved by supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, bans the publication of any images depicting living beings.

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FILE – TV anchor Nesar Nabil is seen on studio monitors wearing a face mask to protest the Taliban’s new order that female presenters cover their faces, as he reads the news on TOLOnews, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, May 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

Vice and Virtue Ministry spokesman Saif ul Islam Khyber confirmed that media in the Afghan provinces of Maidan Wardak, Kandahar and Takhar have been advised not to show images of anything with a soul.

Aghan Independent Journalists Union director Hujjatullah Mujadidi reported that state media was directly told not to air such images by the ministry. It was later extended to all media in the provinces.

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FILE – TV anchor Nesar Nabil wears a face mask to protest the Taliban’s new order that female presenters cover their faces, as he reads the news on TOLOnews, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, May 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

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“Last night, independent local media (in some provinces) also stopped running these videos and images and are instead broadcasting nature videos,” Mujadidi said.

Afghanistan is the only Muslim-majority country enforcing this broadcasting rule. The extremity of the legislation announced by the Vice and Virtue Ministry caused international concern, especially the laws pertaining to women.

 

A Taliban fighter stands guard as women wait to receive food rations distributed by a humanitarian aid group in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, May 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

The Vice and Virtue Ministry deemed that women’s voices were considered too “intimate” and banned women from singing or reading aloud in public. The legislation also requires women to wear veils in public.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Private flights account for 30% of departures from Oman airport as wealthy evacuate Middle East

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Private flights account for 30% of departures from Oman airport as wealthy evacuate Middle East

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Long border crossings, SUV convoys and six-figure jet charters have become the new escape route out of the Middle East as Operation Epic Fury intensifies, with private flights now accounting for nearly a third of all departures from Oman’s main airport.

FlightRadar24, a real-time flight tracking platform, reported that while Oman continues to be a “vital” hub for evacuation and repatriation flights, private flights accounted for 31% of operations Wednesday at Muscat International Airport.

As of Thursday afternoon, the platform reported more than 30% of all movements at the airport were private flights.

Semafor reported earlier this week that airports in Oman and Saudi Arabia were drawing ultra-wealthy travelers looking to leave the countries.

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Oman continues to be a “vital” hub for evacuation flights at its Muscat International Airport. (Christopher Pike/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

People familiar with the matter told the outlet that private security companies have been booking fleets of SUVs to take people on the 10-hour drive from Dubai to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where private flights are available. 

The clientele evacuating the region are a mix of senior executives at global finance firms and wealthy travelers in the region for business or vacation, according to Semafor.

LIV golfer Jon Rahm, a two-time major winner, was just one of the wealthy who arranged flights amid the turmoil.

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Rahm arranged a charter flight through his partnership with VistaJet, a private aviation company, to fly the seven stranded LIV golfers and a caddie from Oman to Hong Kong after their flights were canceled.

After a more than four-hour drive to Oman, the crew flew to Hong Kong.

A spokesperson for Air Charter Service, a company that acts as a global broker for private jets and freight transport, told FOX Business the company has arranged more than 10 evacuation flights, with more scheduled, mainly out of Oman with passengers looking to flee Dubai.

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FlightRadar24 shared flights flying in and out of Muscat airport. (@Flightradar24 via X)

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“We evacuated some of our own staff who were just visiting the region, and we arranged transport via the Hatta crossing into Oman from the UAE to get them to Muscat from where they flew out of the region,” the spokesperson said. “The border crossing time at Hatta took around 3–4 hours, as of Sunday, but I suspect this has increased now, as more people look at this option.”

Light flight jet trips from Muscat, Oman, to Istanbul, Turkey, are reportedly going for more than $93,000, according to Forbes, which said the price was about double the usual rate. 

The outlet added the same route on heavy jets can cost up to $140,000.

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This map shows the targets of Iran’s retaliatory strikes. (Fox News)

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The U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran Saturday, triggering retaliatory attacks targeting countries in the region that host U.S. interests. 

Mora Namdar, Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs, advised U.S. citizens to leave Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

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The limited number of available aircraft has pushed up prices, as citizens and travelers attempt to flee.

Fox News Digital’s Ryan Morik and Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.

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