The Australian Foreign Ministry on Saturday imposed financial sanctions and a travel ban on four senior officials of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
The ministers and officials who have been sanctioned include Sheikh Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, Minister of Encouraging Righteousness and Forbidding Evil, Sheikh Nida Mohammad Nadeem, Minister of Higher Education, Abdul Hakim Sharia, Minister of Justice, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wang justified the sanctions on the systematic repression of women and girls, limiting their access to education, work, freedom of movement and participation in public life, as well as undermining the rule of law and the rights of minorities.
In contrast, Saif al-Islam Khaybar, spokesman for the Ministry of Encouraging Righteousness and Preventing Evil, called these sanctions “an insult to the religious and cultural values of the Afghan people” and said that countries that take such measures are themselves violating women’s rights.
