Taliban close women-run radio station for playing music during Ramadan: Report

A women-run radio station in Afghanistan has been shut down for playing music during the holy month of Ramadan, a Taliban official said as per news agency Associated Press.

The women-run station is named Sadai Banowan which means women’s voice. The radio station started 10 years ago and has a staff of eight people, six of them female.

Moezuddin Ahmadi, the director for information and culture in Badakhshan province, said that the radio station violated the “laws and regulations of the Islamic Emirate” several times by playing songs and music during Ramadan.

“If this radio station accepts the policy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and gives a guarantee that it will not repeat such a thing again, we will allow it to operate again,” Moezuddin Ahmadi said.

Meanwhile the head of the radio station Najia Sorosh denied the accusations saying that there was no need for the closure, called it a “conspiracy”. The Taliban “told us that you have broadcast music. We have not broadcast any kind of music,” she said.

The radio station said that representatives from the government came to the station and shut it down without giving any additional information about the closing.

Earlier, the Taliban barred women from employment and education beyond the sixth grade, including university.