(Kabul) Taliban now bans women from using training halls in Afghanistan, Kabul official says; the religious group’s latest edict cracking down on women’s rights and freedoms since they came to power more than a year ago.
Posted at 10:20 a.m.
The Taliban took power in August 2021. They banned girls from middle and high schools, despite initial promises to the contrary, restricted the presence of women in most fields of employment and ordered them to wear protective clothing. head-to-toe clothing in public.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Virtue and Vice said the ban was passed because people were ignoring sex segregation orders and women were not wearing the required headscarf or hijab.
PHOTO EBRAHIM NOROOZI, ASSOCIATED PRESS
A park in Kabul, November 10, 2022.
Women are also prohibited from entering the parks.
The ban on women using gyms and parks came into effect this week, according to Mohammed Akef Mohajer, Taliban-appointed spokesman for the Ministry of Virtue and Vice.
He said the group had “done their best” over the past 15 months to avoid closing parks and gyms to women, by having separate days of the week for men’s and women’s access or by imposing gender segregation.
“But, unfortunately, orders were not followed and rules were violated, and we had to close parks and gymnasiums for women,” Mohajer said.
“In most cases we saw men and women together in parks and unfortunately the hijab was not seen. So we had to make another decision and for now we have ordered that all parks and gyms be closed to women. »
Taliban teams will start monitoring establishments to check whether women are still using them, he said.
A personal trainer told The Associated Press that women and men do not exercise or train together at the Kabul gymnasium where she works.
“The Taliban are lying,” insisted the lady, who wanted to speak anonymously to avoid reprisals.
“We trained separately. »
She said that on Thursday, two men claiming to be from the Ministry of Virtue and Vice entered her gymnasium and made all the women leave.
“The women wanted to protest against the [fermeture] gymnasiums, but the Taliban came and arrested them, she said. Now we don’t know if they are alive or dead. »