Taliban orders beheading ‘Un-Islamic’ female mannequins in Herat; Video goes viral

New Delhi: The ruling Taliban declared the female mannequins to be “un-Islamic” and reportedly ordered their beheading. A video of a worker cutting off the heads of several mannequins has gone viral on social media.

A 40-second video shared by Kabul-based author and activist Dr. Homeira Qaderi shows the worker using a hack-saw to cut off the heads of the female mannequins.

A few days ago, Afghan news network TOLOnews reported that the Taliban had ordered Herat’s shopping malls to “remove the heads of mannequins” and “warned that the shopkeepers will be punished if they violate the order”.

“These are the statues — they are defined in the (holy) books and should not be in Islam. These were being worshipped. They (the shopkeepers) said that they display the clothes on them,” the report quoted the chief of Herat’s “department of vice and virtue” as saying.

The video faced flack on social media, with many questioning the priorities of the Afghan Taliban government. The nation currently faces an acute crisis of food shortage and economic slowdown.

“People are starving and they only mind this shit,” one user commented.

Another pointed out, “This doesn’t make mannequins less sexy, or men less aroused. It just sends the message that a woman’s body is amenable to the utmost graphic violence.”