Taliban orders Afghanistan female TV presenters to cover their faces (photos)

Women presenters and reporters on TV channels in Afghanistan have been ordered to cover their faces while presenting news on air.

On Sunday, May 22, Afghan female reporters went on air with their faces covered in line with a Taliban order after disobeying the other just a day before.

According to the BBC, a presenter said women working in the TV industry had resisted but their employers had come under pressure.

The women wore hijabs and face-covering veils, to present and report news bulletins and other programmes across popular channels such as TOLOnews, Ariana Television, Shamshad TV and 1TV.

Since seizing power from the Afghan government last year, the Taliban have increasingly imposed restrictions on women’s lives.

TOLOnews presenter Farida Sial told the BBC: “It’s OK that we are Muslims, we are wearing hijab, we hide our hair, but it’s very difficult for a presenter to cover their face for two or three hours consecutively and talk like that.”

“They want to erase women from social and political life,” she said.

Earlier the Taliban’s Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and the Promotion of Virtue ordered that all women must wear a face veil in public, or risk punishment

Another female Afghan journalist, who asked not to be named, told the BBC: “Today is another black day for the women of my country.”