Four Afghan men were summoned by the Taliban’s department of vice and virtue after posting videos online of themselves dressed in clothing inspired by the British TV series Peaky Blinders. Officials stated the men’s attire and the values portrayed in the show conflicted with Afghan and Islamic values.
“Peaky Blinders” Style Draws Scrutiny in Afghanistan
The men, all in their early twenties and from the town of Jibrail in Herat province, were seen in videos wearing flat caps and three-piece suits similar to those featured in the series, which is set in England after World War One. They were ordered to report to the Taliban’s “morality police” on Sunday and questioned the following day in Herat city.
Saiful Islam Khyber, a spokesman for the Taliban government’s provincial department of Vice and Virtue, said that even jeans would have been more acceptable than the Peaky Blinders-inspired outfits. “The values in the Peaky Blinders series are against Afghan culture,” Khyber told the BBC.
Khyber stated the men were promoting foreign culture and imitating film actors. He added they underwent a “rehabilitation programme” but were not formally arrested, only “summoned and advised and released.”
“We have our own religious and cultural values, and especially for clothing we have specific traditional styles,” Khyber said. “The clothing they wore has no Afghan identity at all and does not match our culture. Secondly, their actions were an imitation of actors from a British movie. Our society is Muslim; if we are to follow or imitate someone, we should follow our righteous religious predecessors in good and lawful matters.”
In a video released by the ministry after their questioning, the men thanked officials for their advice and said they were unaware they had violated any laws. One man stated he had been “summoned and advised” and would no longer engage in similar activities.
Prior to being summoned, the men told YouTube channel Herat-Mic they admired the fashion displayed in the series and had received positive reactions from locals. “At first we were hesitant, but once we went outside, people liked our style, stopped us in the streets, and wanted to take photos with us,” one of the men said, according to a translation by CBS News.
The Taliban have imposed numerous restrictions on daily life since seizing power in 2021, based on their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.
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