In Afghanistan, the Taliban ask Herat traders to decapitate the models
Afghanistan, a country among the poorest in the world, is on the brink of economic collapse.At the beginning of December, the UN warned against a risk of famine, believing that 23 of the 40 million Afghans are likely to suffer from "acute" food shortages this winter this winter.However, the new regime has other priorities, such as ... cutting the head of female models, after tackling the beauty institutes, when they took power on August 15.
The Afghan Information Channel Tolo News, revealed, on December 30, that the Taliban of the city had ordered the shops of Herat to withdraw the heads of the female models, in application of their strict interpretation of the Islamic law, which prohibitsthe representation of human figures.
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"We asked traders to cut the heads of the models, because it goes against the [Islamic] law of Sharia law," confirmed on Wednesday January 5 Aziz Rahman, head of the department for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice viceIn Herat, the third largest city in this western province of Afghanistan, with around 600,000 inhabitants."If they are content to cover their heads, or hide the model, the angel of Allah will not return to their store or to their house to bless them," he continued, adding that the vendors of clothinghave promised that they would obey.
Herat clothing sellers criticized this decision.One two, Aziz Ahmad Haidar, told Tolo News that they use "models to exhibit clothes".Others, like Mehran Azizi, pointed that "models are used to display clothes in all countries, including Islamic countries".But the Taliban remained inflexible.The department for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice warned them that they would be punished in the event of non-compliance with this injunction.
The merchants have complied: a video posted on January 3 shows the employee of a store using a saw to decapitate a dozen female models.Originally shared by Homeira Qaderi, author living in Kabul, she was seen more than 730,000 times and was resting by BBC journalist Zia Shahreyar.
Several Herat traders interviewed by the France-Presse agency said they were unhappy."As you can see, we cut the heads of the models in the store," regrets Basheer Ahmed, complaining that each of his models cost him 5,000 Afghanis (around 42 euros)."When there is no model, how do you hope to sell your products to consumers?", he added.
Dans un article publié le 17 août dans Prospect Magazine, l’historien britannique Charlie Gammell, qui a publié The Pearl of Khorasan : A History of Herat ( « La perle du Khorasan : une histoire d’Herat » chez Hurst & Co, en 2016, non traduit), s’inquiétait pour l’avenir de la cité.
He recalled that it is considered to be the Center for Cultural Heritage and the Arts of Afghanistan, as for Florence during the Renaissance.Its population, mainly Tadjike and Hazara, mainly speaks the Dari.She suffered under the Taliban regime between 1996 and 2001, but tried to maintain a semblance of cultural life, in the form of a clandestine reading circle for women of Herat and a cultural magazine.
Decrease in rights
Marzia Babakarkhail, former family affairs judge in Afghanistan refugee in the United Kingdom, explained to the British daily The Independent that this Taliban decision reveals "who they really are"."We expected it, but I would have liked the employees of the ministry [for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice] focus on reduction of poverty, aid supply," tweeted TorekFarhadi, a former civil servant of the previous Afghan regime.
If, for the moment, the Taliban have not issued any national directive concerning the models, at the end of their first reign, in March 2001, they had destroyed the two statues of Bamiyan Buddha.Since their return to power, they have been looking to be recognized by the international community and say they are more moderate.
They have since imposed several restrictions, notably women and girls.They announced that women wishing to travel over long distances should be accompanied by a man from their close family and called taxi drivers to accept women aboard their vehicle if they wear the "Islamic veil".Taliban authorities have also multiplied alcohol searches and prohibited music.
Tuesday, around thirty women demonstrated in Kabul for their rights, but also to ask the Taliban to stop their "criminal machine" and the assassinations of members of the old regime.
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