Law students and lawyers in Afghanistan are reporting with JURIST on the situation there after the Taliban takeover. Here, a former Afghan law professor now out of Afghanistan shares her views on a strict new Taliban decree issued Saturday that requires Afghan Women to wear full hijabs under threat of sanction against themselves or their male “guardians.” . For privacy and security reasons, we are withholding the name of our correspondent. The text has only been slightly edited to respect the author’s voice. Sheikh Khalid Hanafi, the well-known Taliban minister, said at a meeting held last Saturday to announce the new order on women’s hijab that the Taliban’s 20-year jihadi struggle was for the rule of the divine system. Therefore, they say that they have to gradually Islamize the society according to their own understanding of Islam, and have started imposing restrictions on women, such as prohibiting them from studying, working, traveling, driving, and even going to the market and shopping, which which should be done with your Mahram (guardian). The issuance of this new Taliban order imposes the most severe restrictions on Afghan women since the Taliban returned to power. And unfortunately, in the process of the so-called Islamization of society, vulnerable women are victims of irrational policies. The decree states that it is compulsory for Muslim women to observe the hijab. Women’s clothing must not be too tight to show the woman’s limbs, nor must it be so thin that the woman’s body is visible, and the decree says that the Chador (the Taliban’s tribal covering) is a hijab. religious and the best kind of hijab. To prevent sedition and moral corruption, women who expose themselves to non-mahram persons must cover their other limbs or any part of their body except the eyes. However, for the past 20 years before the return of the Taliban, Afghan women have been seen in public and even in the media observing the traditional hijab and living in a free and humane environment. The decree states that the importance and benefits of the hijab should first be explained to women through the media and forums, and should be written on billboards and installed in markets, parks and public places to encourage women to wear it. hijab The Taliban directive states that if women do not observe hijab, as the first step the house of the woman without hijab will be identified and her husband will be advised and punished, and in the second step the guardian of the woman without hijab will be summoned and then in the third step he will be imprisoned for three days. In the fourth step, the guardian of the unveiled woman is brought before the court and a “proper” punishment is determined for him. By issuing this decree, the Taliban have deprived women of their freedom, independence and humanity. The imposition of such harsh restrictions by the Taliban violates all human rights standards. The Taliban decree states that when women do not observe the hijab, they turn to men for advice, punishment, and this means that the Taliban do not accept women as free and independent human beings. They believe that men speak for them, and that women should always be subject to men. The truth is that the Taliban have taken a nation of almost 40 million people captive and are doing whatever they want to oppress them. The world and the international community and human rights institutions should not leave Afghan women alone in this critical situation. In Islam and the Qur’an, there is no definitive rule on hijab that is compulsory, and even this issue is not jurisprudential or legal, but is subject to moral, customary and cultural rules. Dressing is one of the most private affairs in a society. Determining the type of clothing for women in a society is the greatest insult to women’s rights in that society. The hijab the Taliban want is the hijab from the first period of their rule (1996-2001). Unfortunately, we are going back to the Middle Ages. A dark period begins again for Afghan women. With the pretexts they offer, the Taliban want to stop the civil struggles of women, deprive them of their right to work, study and other social activities to turn them into housewives. Bertrand Russell once said that slavery means someone else has decided how free you are. The women of Afghanistan go straight into slavery. A captive mother can never raise a free generation.