The Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice said on Sunday that no muhtasib (morality police) is allowed to violate citizens’ right to privacy, warning that violators will face serious action.

Speaking on Ariana News’ Saar program, Saif-ul-Islam Khaibar, the ministry’s spokesman, said that public complaints regarding the behavior of muhtasibs have decreased, which indicates that they are behaving well.

“Breaching the privacy of individuals is spying. It is spying on what the individual does or does not do. Muhtasib does not have this right, and Islam has forbidden this, and Allah Almighty has also forbidden spying. Muhtasib is only responsible when he directly sees a wrongdoing and prevents it,” Khaibar said.

He also emphasized that the ministry has handled thousands of complaints in different sectors over the past three years and, in the area of protecting women’s rights alone, has prevented more than 5,500 cases of forced marriage and Baad practice in different regions of the country. Baad is a method of settlement and compensation whereby a female from a criminal’s family is given to the victim’s family as a servant or a bride.

“We cannot say that currently this is not happening in Afghanistan because it is a large country and the ministry has just started working. It is something that has existed for decades, but now it is not something that people can freely do,” Khaibar said.

He also claimed that some foreign media outlets and intelligence circles spread propaganda against the ministry in order to turn people against the ministry and muhtasibs.