Afghan women and supporters around the globe are standing up — or, in this case, singing — in solidarity after the Taliban introduced new rules that prohibit women’s voices from being heard in public.
Video captured an Afghan woman, Taiba Sulaimani, who lives in Toronto, singing an Afghan song about breaking free from oppression, Storyful reported.
The Taliban last week issued the country’s first set of laws said to prevent vice and promote virtue. They include a requirement for a woman to conceal her face, body and voice outside the home.
Sulaimani is among women in Afghanistan and outside the country who have been recording themselves singing in response to the ban.
A 23-year-old graduate from the northeastern part of the country, Efat also joined the protest and posted a video of herself singing outdoors in Afghanistan.
“No command, system or man can close the mouth of an Afghan woman,” she told The Associated Press. “If you close one part of the body of an Afghan woman, another part will work.”
According to the UN, the new laws include requiring women to wear clothes that completely cover them from head to toe, and not travel on public transport if unaccompanied by a man.
The UN has called for the laws to be repealed