A women-run radio station in northeast Afghanistan was shut down by the Taliban for playing music during the fasting month of Ramadan, according to a spokesperson for the group.
Afghanistan’s sole women-run station, Sadai Banowan, which translates to “women’s voice” in Dari, has been broadcasting for ten years. Six of the eight employees are female.
Moezuddin Ahmadi, the director for information and culture in the province of Badakhshan, stated that the station transmitting songs and music during Ramadan broke the “rules and regulations of the Islamic Emirate” many times. As a result, authorities shut down the station.
Ahmadi said, “We will allow this radio station to operate again if it accepts the policy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and provides a promise that it will not repeat such a thing again.
Najia Sorosh, the station’s manager, denied any wrongdoing, claimed there was no reason for the closure, and labelled it a plot. “You transmitted music,” the Taliban informed us, but as she stated, “We did not broadcast any music.”
Sorosh said at 11:40 am on Thursday (7:10 GMT), representatives from the Ministry of Information and Culture and the Vice and Virtue Directorate arrived at the station and shut it down.
She said station staff have contacted the Vice and Virtue Directorate, but officials there said they do not have any additional information about the closing.
Many journalists lost their jobs after the Taliban takeover in August 2021. Media outlets closed over lack of funds or because their staff left the country, according to the Afghan Independent Journalists Association.