タリバン、女性のみの飛行機利用を禁止

【ＡＦＰ＝時事】アフガニスタンで政権を掌握したイスラム主義組織タリバンはこのほど、男性の親族の付き添いなく女性だけで飛行機を利用することを禁止した。（写真はアフガニスタン・カブールの空港に掲げられた、女性にブルカ着用を命令するポスター）
　タリバンは自国のアリアナ・アフガン航空とカーム航空に対し、成人男性の親族を意味する「後見人」の同伴者がいない女性の搭乗を禁じるよう命じた。
　航空当局がＡＦＰに明かしたところによると、２４日にタリバン、同航空２社、カブール空港入管当局の代表者による会合が開かれ、規制の実施が決まったという。
　ＡＦＰが入手した、アリアナ・アフガン航空幹部が職員に宛てた文書には、「国内・国際便を問わず、男性の親族の同伴がない女性は搭乗を許されない」と書かれていた。
　宗教的規則の取り締まりを行う勧善懲悪省の報道官は、禁止令を出した事実はないと否定。だが、ＡＦＰが取材した旅行代理店２社は、女性だけの利用者への切符の発行を停止したと認めた。
　この禁止令が外国人にも適応されるかは不明。ただし、米国のパスポート（旅券）を所持するアフガン人女性が先週、搭乗を拒否されたという現地報道もある。
　タリバンは既に、女性だけで都市間を車で移動することを禁じている。また２３日には、女子の中等教育を再開したものの、数時間後に再び停止を命じた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/03/29-10:37）

The Taliban have ordered airlines in Afghanistan to stop women from flying unless accompanied by a male relative, in the latest crackdown on basic human rights by the country's new rulers since seizing power.
The hardline Islamists have imposed sweeping restrictions on freedoms, mostly targeting Afghan girls and women, and on Sunday also ordered local television channels to stop broadcasting BBC news bulletins.
Over the weekend, they also decreed that men and women could not visit parks in the capital on the same days.
After returning to power in August the Taliban promised a softer version of the harsh rule that characterised their first stint in power, from 1996 to 2001, but restrictions have crept back -- often implemented regionally at the whim of local officials.
Women are increasingly being shut out of public life -- barred from high schools and most government jobs, and ordered to dress according to the Taliban's strict interpretation of the Koran.
In their latest crackdown, the Taliban ordered Afghanistan's Ariana Afghan Airlines and Kam Air to stop women from boarding flights unless they were escorted by a mahram, or adult male relative.
The decision was taken after a meeting on Thursday between representatives of the Taliban, the two airlines, and Kabul airport immigration authorities, aviation officials told AFP.
No women are allowed to fly on any domestic or international flights without a male relative, said a letter by a senior Ariana official to his staff, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.
A spokesman for the Taliban's religious enforcers, the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, denied ordering the flight ban, but two travel agents told AFP they had stopped issuing tickets to solo women travellers.
- 'God's order' -
The edict was not expected to affect foreigners, although aviation officials reported that an Afghan woman with a US passport was prevented from flying last week.
Some women who were travelling without a male relative were not allowed to board a Kam Air flight from Kabul to Islamabad on Friday, a passenger on the flight told AFP.
The Taliban have already banned inter-city road trips for women travelling alone.
The flight ban came as the vice ministry ordered that men and women should not visit parks in Kabul on the same days.
Women are now permitted to visit parks only on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays, while the remaining days are reserved for men, a ministry notification said.
It is not the Islamic Emirate's order but our God's order that men and women who are strangers to each other should not gather at one place, Mohammad Yahya Aref, an official at the vice ministry, told AFP.
The new restriction on women follows Wednesday's shutdown of all girls' secondary schools just hours after they were allowed to reopen for the first time since August.
Tens of thousands of girls had flocked back to class, but officials ordered them home just hours into the day, triggering international outrage.
Taliban sources said that the decision was taken after a closed-door meeting of the movement's leaders last week in Kandahar, the de facto power centre of the group.
- 'Screws tightening' -
Several Afghan women activists have warned of nationwide protests if the schools were not open within a week.
Heather Barr, Human Rights Watch associate director for women's rights, said the latest restrictions were scary.
We see the screws tightening on women and girls every day now, she said.
They have abandoned -- at least for now -- any effort to reach an accommodation with the international community, and that leaves them with nothing to lose.
The Taliban appear to have also set their sights on local media networks, which flourished under the previous US-backed regimes.
On Monday, Taliban intelligence agents raided four radio stations in Kandahar and detained six journalists, sources said.
The raids come a day after the authorities ordered the BBC's television partners in Afghanistan to stop broadcasting its news bulletins.
Since the foreign TV channels are broadcast from abroad, the Islamic Emirate has no access to control their contents, especially when it comes to journalists' uniforms and dresses, government spokesman Inamullah Samangani told AFP.
The Taliban have already ordered women journalists working in Afghan television networks to wear hijabs, and stopped channels from broadcasting foreign dramas.