Four Young Men Arrested in Herat for Imitating TV Character
The Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has announced the arrest of four young residents of Jebrael district in Herat for allegedly imitating a character from a foreign television series. Saif-ul-Islam Khyber, the ministry’s spokesperson, stated on X (formerly Twitter) that the men had dressed like Thomas Shelby, a character from the British series ‘Peaky Blinders’, and were seen walking around the city.
Photos of the four youths recently circulated on social media, showing them wearing clothes and caps resembling those worn by characters in the historical series set in Birmingham, UK. The images garnered attention online, and the young men became known as the ‘Jebrael Shelbys.’
However, the Taliban authorities considered their actions to be “against Islamic values and Afghan culture” and said they would be dealt with according to regulations. According to the ministry’s spokesperson, one of the arrested individuals said in an audio recording that they were unaware of the consequences and had shared the images out of ignorance.
There is currently no information about the exact location or condition of the young men. Over the past four years, the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has repeatedly detained young people for similar reasons and closely monitors social media activity. Human rights organizations view such measures as part of the broader restrictions on personal and intellectual freedoms under Taliban rule in Afghanistan.
