By Ghazal Mohammadi
Hamid Saljouqi Ariyaman, a journalist and cartoonist, chose to portray the Taliban’s mandatory hijab in a highly publicised act of protest thousands of kilometres away from his birthplace, Herat, in Hamburg, Germany. Appearing on stage at the opening of his exhibition wearing a burqa, he declared: “Wherever a woman’s body is controlled, everyone’s freedom is in danger.”
The burqa is one of the forms of dress favoured by the Taliban for women. In Clause 10 of Article 3 of their Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the group states: “A sharia-compliant hijab is clothing that covers a woman’s entire body and face from non-mahrams [non-male relatives], and is neither thin, short, nor tight.”
To date, the Taliban have resorted to various measures to enforce the wearing of the burqa on women. In recent weeks, the group made women’s and girls’ access to regional hospitals and government offices in Herat conditional on wearing the burqa—a move that provoked widespread reactions.
In a report published in June this year, UNAMA (the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan) stated that the Taliban do not allow women without a burqa to enter markets or use public transport.
On 17 November, Hamid Ariyaman displayed at least thirty-five cartoons on the themes of women’s erasure from society and women’s resistance to restrictions, in an exhibition held in Hamburg, Germany. At the exhibition, he described the burqa as “the Taliban’s imposed hijab” and, as an act of protest, wore it himself.
Speaking to Rukhshana Media about his experience of wearing the burqa, he said: “To be honest, the experience of wearing the burqa was so heavy for me that I felt suffocated for hours afterwards.”
Image: supplied by Ariyaman.
Explaining this act, which took place in the presence of members of the Hamburg state parliament, Mr Ariyaman said: “Wearing the burqa was an expression of open anger—anger I feel towards Afghanistan’s male society, towards the silence born of ethnic allegiance and alignment with the Taliban, towards a politics that seeks to bargain merely for survival, and, above all, so that Western society can see up close the devastating reality of women’s situation in Afghanistan.”
This protest generated mixed reactions on social media in Afghanistan. Alongside praise for this form of protest, Mr Ariyaman says he also received abusive messages: “Some participants laughed at my action… Even now, countless people online are daily trying to insult and humiliate me because of it.”
Most of the subjects of Hamid Ariyaman’s cartoons centre on the silent resistance of women in Afghanistan. He says he revisits these subjects in his mind and carefully searches for metaphors that can convey the struggle and resilience of girls in Afghanistan.
For this artist, cartoons are not merely images based on aesthetic considerations; they represent a political and ethical stance on an issue: “Whose side does this cartoon stand on? Whose voice is it? Against which structure is it directed? If I feel that an image benefits the oppressed, the marginalised, and those who have been erased, and that it stands on the right side in resistance to domination, then I finalise the work.”
Mr Ariyaman’s artistic style in cartooning combines critical minimalism, social symbolism, and narrative storytelling. He says his protest art aims to provoke questions in the viewer’s mind: “For me, art only has value when it can expose inequality and revive the possibility of struggle and resistance—when it forces us to ask what is unjust and what stance I take in response.”
Having exhibited at least thirty-five cartoons in Hamburg, Mr Ariyaman explains the message of the exhibition as follows: “The message, for me, was that art must rise against indifference, because this silence and neutrality within parts of society are deeply worrying. I tried to ensure that this collection was not just an art exhibition, but a space for political and ethical dialogue; that is why it also raised questions for German politicians about how they could stand on the right side, contrary to the realities of Germany’s foreign policy.”
He says that by holding this exhibition, he sought to show Europeans that the Taliban issue is not only a problem of Afghanistan but a global one: “For parts of European society, such actions carry added significance—not to create pity, but to generate class and gender awareness; to explain the truth that the Taliban’s sustained and systematic oppression is not only Afghanistan’s problem—it is a global issue of power, fundamentalism, and inequality, and it must not be met with silence.”
The Taliban have imposed dozens of systematic restrictions on women’s lives in Afghanistan. Richard Bennett, the UN Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan, has stated that women are enduring a system based on “gender apartheid” in this country.
Hamid Ariyaman also told Rukhshana Media: “I believe that women’s voices, women’s presence, and women’s struggle—alongside art—will become tools in the fight against Taliban fundamentalism and patriarchal systems… I felt I had to show, however limitedly, the everyday reality of women’s lives, which is not merely a simple deprivation but a full-fledged structure of social and gendered erasure.”
Hamid Saljouqi Ariyaman graduated from the Faculty of Journalism at Herat University in his hometown of Herat. He later developed an interest in cartoon art: “Instinctively, I am drawn to marginal narratives, to those on the margins, and to the silent classes that official history often erases. Perhaps that is why my mind is always monitoring stories related to discrimination, erasure, and structural violence.”
Image: supplied by Ariyaman.
Mr Ariyaman sees the implicit bluntness of cartoons as an image confronting oppressive systems—an image that becomes an instrument of struggle and civil resistance. He says: “The Taliban fear images, because images do not allow the monopoly over narrative to remain in their hands. For me, cartooning is a compressed form of symbolic struggle—a struggle that both contributes to collective awareness and documents suffering.”
Hamid Ariyaman emphasises the importance of organising protest actions and exhibitions. He believes the world must understand that the erasure of women in Afghanistan is not a “cultural issue” but the result of a repressive policy. This view directly challenges the Taliban’s dominant narrative, which frames restrictions as cultural justifications and claims they reflect the wishes and culture of the people in Afghanistan.
He adds: “I told the participants there as well: if you want to see the world from the perspective and condition in which women experience in Afghanistan, put on this burqa and experience it for yourself.”
