Fact-Checking | Are Afghan Women Being Arrested for 'Improper Hijab'?

On January 21, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) announced that Taliban officials in Afghanistan are arresting women for not adhering to the hijab law, stating that multiple cases of the arrest of girls and women have been recorded across Afghanistan, where they have either been mistreated or barred from communicating with others. UNAMA added: 'There is a fear that the current repression will push women into further isolation due to fear of arbitrary arrest and create an environment conducive for men to carry out repressive actions at home.' According to UNAMA, the enforcement of the hijab is carried out by the Taliban's Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which the UN agency referred to as a 'quasi-police.' On the same day, Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, wrote on the platform 'X': 'UNAMA's concern about the mistreatment of women in Afghanistan due to their hijab is incorrect. Afghan women wear hijab by their own choice. They are neither forced to wear hijab nor has the Ministry of Promotion of Virtue mistreated them. This is just propaganda and far from reality.' Additionally, a Taliban official confirmed the arrest of women and girls in Afghanistan under the pretext of 'improper hijab.' The Poligraph website, a fact-checking project of Voice of America, deemed this claim incorrect on January 25. According to this report, Abdul Ghaffar Farooq, deputy spokesperson for the Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, told the Associated Press that female officers under the command of this ministry are arresting women for violating dress codes. In a voice message sent to the news agency on January 3, he stated: 'Only a limited number of women who promote improper hijab in Islamic society have been arrested,' adding: 'They have violated Islamic values and encouraged the community and other respectable sisters towards improper hijab.' Abdul Ghaffar Farooq emphasized that 'women without hijab are arrested in every province.' There are no statistics on the number of 'improperly hijabbed' individuals arrested, and the Taliban does not share this information. Six days later, on January 20, Farooq told CBS News that dozens of women had been arrested in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. He added that arrests continued for several days across Afghanistan, but most women were released after their families paid bail, and only a few were handed over to judicial authorities for further investigation. UNAMA also announced that it has documented 'a series of hijab enforcement operations,' and CBS News referred to these operations as 'mass arrests.' Photos circulating on social media also show trucks loading arrested women. Additionally, see: UN: Taliban Imprisons Afghan Women 'to Protect' from Gender-Based Violence. Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed the arrests in an interview with CBS News but claimed that the detentions only lasted a few hours and that there was no mistreatment of women. However, UNAMA stated that it is investigating reports of 'mistreatment and illegal detention.' The family of one of the detainees told CBS News that Taliban officials beat the woman during her arrest and sent a photo of her bruises to CBS. Other families reported that the morality police demanded large sums of money for the release of these women and asked their fathers and brothers to sign a document stating that these women would never go out without hijab or male accompaniment again. The Taliban's Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice announced a dress code for women in June 2021, deeming only clothing that covers the entire body except for the eyes as 'appropriate' and acceptable. In the decree of this ministry, the consequences for 'a woman arrested without hijab' have increased from 'warning to her male guardian' to 'imprisonment for a woman who is repeatedly arrested for violating hijab law.' A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State stated that 'Washington remains concerned about the Taliban's repressive decrees against women and girls and their unwillingness to form an inclusive government.' The United States Institute of Peace, a non-partisan institute established by Congress, has provided a picture of human rights violations by the Taliban since taking power in September 2021, showing a gradual decline in the role of women, from banning education to job filters and increasing dependence on male guardianship over the years.