The Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice has detained four young men in Herat province for imitating the fashion of Peaky Blinders, the British television series known for its 1920s gangster aesthetic.
In a video statement published on X, ministry spokesperson Saiful Islam Khyber said the youths—residents of Enjil district—were arrested for sharing TikTok and other social-media videos in which they dressed like Thomas Shelby, the show’s central character. The ministry described their activity as spreading “foreign film-style acts” and said the young men had become known locally as the “Thomas Shelby group.”
The detainees were presented on camera and, according to the ministry, offered “remorse” after receiving “necessary guidance.” The Taliban reiterated that such clothing styles are “in conflict with Afghan and Islamic values” and warned against copying practices associated with non-Muslim cultures.
Ahmadullah Waak, a Kabul-based human-rights advocate, says such arrests illustrate the widening scope of restrictions on personal expression under Taliban rule, where clothing choices, social-media activity, and artistic self-presentation have increasingly become grounds for detention.
The Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice has previously detained TikTok creators and social-media users, often producing coerced confessions or public apologies.
The arrests come just a week after the ministry detained a 70-year-old TikTok user known as “Malak Akbar,” accusing him of posting content deemed “un-Islamic.” The elderly man was transferred to a Taliban court, with officials warning that others producing similar material would face the same fate.
