Taliban detains 4 men for dressing up as "Peaky Blinders" characters, gives them rehabilitation
Four young men were detained by Afghanistan's Taliban authorities and put into a rehabilitation program for walking around in public dressed up as their favorite characters from the hit British drama "Peaky Blinders."
The Taliban government's Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice said the four friends — who had become popular in their local Jibrail township, in the southern province of Herat, for strutting through the streets in trench coats and flat caps — were detained for "promoting foreign culture."
The men, all in their early 20s, were detained in Jibrail, according to Saif-ur-Islam Khyber, a spokesman for the government ministry.
"They were promoting foreign culture and imitating film actors in Herat, arrested, and a rehabilitation program started for them," Khyber said Sunday in a post on one of his social media accounts. "Praise be to Allah, we are Muslims and Afghans; we have our own religion, culture, and values. Through numerous sacrifices, we have protected this country from the spread of harmful cultures, and now we are also defending it."
Speaking with CBS News on Tuesday, however, Khyber said the men 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 told CBS News on Tuesday. "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."
The friends, Asghar Husinai, Jalil Yaqoobi, Ashore Akbari and Daud Rasa, who appeared recently on a local YouTuber's chat show, were often seen walking around in outfits modeled on the Netflix hit series' Shelby family.
Video and photos of them walking shoulder to shoulder in their costumes had circulated widely on social media in Afghanistan in the days before their arrests.
In the group interview posted online at the end of November by local YouTube channel Hirat Mic, the young men said they admired the show's fashion and had received overwhelmingly 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," Yaqoobi said. "Some comments were negative, but we only paid attention to the appreciation."
Afghanistan's Taliban authorities, however, deemed the outfits "contrary to Islamic values and Afghan culture."
A video released by the ministry and shared by Khyber along with his statement includes audio said to be one of the young men expressing regret for his decision to wear the Western clothing.
"I'm on Instagram and have five million followers. Without realizing it, I used to publish and spread things that were against Sharia," says the voice in the audio recording, which is identified by the ministry only as one of the young men, not by name. "I was summoned and advised, and from today onward I will no longer engage in such sinful activities — and I have stopped."
A close friend of the four young men told CBS News their detention was "ridiculous."
"The country always feels like a prison," said the friend, whom CBS News is not identifying for safety reasons. "Our friends wore these outfits for no political or other reason — just for fun — and the Taliban's religious police detained them ... They admired the British series and wanted to share that admiration, but it turned into a nightmare. They are now behind bars."
The detentions come amid a crackdown by Afghanistan's ruling Taliban authorities to enforce strict dress codes and other societal rules for men, women and children. Women and girls have seen their rights curbed most dramatically, being barred from virtually all work and formal education after the age of 11.
The Taliban retook control of the country after two decades of Western-backed governance in the summer of 2021, as the U.S. military withdrew under an agreement reached between the Taliban and the U.S. during President Trump's first term in office.
The vice and virtue ministry's crackdown on all behavior deemed un-Islamic under the country's strict interpretation of Sharia law has been far-reaching.
In a social media post on Tuesday, spokesman Khyber said two street magicians were arrested in the Balkh province for engaging "in activities contrary to Islamic Sharia law for a long time."
"Books and documents related to witchcraft were obtained from the aforementioned individuals, which, based on initial information, have played a role in family disputes, separation between spouses, and the formation of some social problems among the residents of this province," he said.