Afghan women face new ban on reciting Quran in public

Afghan women have been banned from reciting the Quran and praying loudly in front of other women according to AP, who cites the Taliban government’s Vice and Virtue Minister Khalid Hanafi.

Speaking at an event in Logar province on Sunday, Hanafi said women were prohibited from Quranic recitations or chanting religious expressions in the presence of other women.

He also stated women could not perform the call to prayer or sing.

The announcement marks the latest restriction on women’s rights in Afghanistan, where the Taliban administration has already barred women from education beyond sixth grade, excluded them from most employment opportunities and many public spaces, and required them to cover their faces outside the home.

The Vice and Virtue Ministry was not immediately available on Wednesday to confirm whether these new religious restrictions would be formally added to existing morality laws.

The Taliban has faced international condemnation for its increasing limitations on women’s freedoms since taking power in Afghanistan.