The Taliban has arrested four young men for wearing outfits inspired by Peaky Blinders, local media reports.
The men were detained in Hera, Afghanistan by Taliban morality enforcers and accused of ‘promoting foreign culture’.
Photos of the group – wearing long coats, flat caps and styled clothes similar to characters from the Shelby family – had circulated widely on Afghan social media in recent days, where some users dubbed them the ‘Jebrael Shelbys.’
In an interview published earlier on the YouTube channel ‘Herat Mic,’ the young men said they wore the outfits out of admiration for the show’s fashion and received mostly positive reactions from residents.
One of them said they also intended to showcase traditional clothing from Afghanistan’s different ethnic communities.
The Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice spokesperson Saiful Islam Khyber said the behaviour was inconsistent with ‘Islamic values and Afghan culture’.
The Taliban has arrested four young men for wearing outfits inspired by peaky Blinders , local media reports
The men were detained in Hera, Afghanistan by the Taliban’s morality enforcers, according to a Taliban spokesman. Picture Shows: Arthur Shelby (Paul Anderson), John Shelby (Joe Cole), Thomas Shelby (Cillian Murphy)
Khyber also posted a video of one of the men expressing regret for his behaviour.
The Taliban has previously detained many for perceived violations of dress codes – with barbers being ordered not to cut beards or style hair in what they deem ‘Western’ fashion
Ahmadullah Waak, a Kabul-based human-rights advocate, says such arrests illustrate the widening scope of restrictions on personal expression under Taliban rule, where clothing choices, social-media activity, and artistic self-presentation have increasingly become grounds for detention.
It comes after last year The taliban banned photographs of ‘all living things’ as a part of the regime’s extreme interpretation of Islamic law.
Afghanistan’s morality ministry, which has been tasked with imposing Islamic law on the country since the Taliban came to power in 2021, announced that the photography ban would be gradually enforced.
Meanwhile, Taliban officials have continued to regularly post photos of people on social media.
Khyber, told journalists at the time that the law will apply to the whole of Afghan society.