Taliban leaders in Afghanistan have imposed new restrictions on women, including banning them from singing, reciting poetry or speaking loudly in public. Women must also cover their faces and bodies at all times.

The restrictions are part of a new so-called Vice and Virtue Decree published on Wednesday by the Taliban Justice Ministry after approval by their reclusive supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, a ministry spokesman said in a video message.

The 35-article document is the first formal statement of the virtue and vice laws according to the Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia since they regained power in Afghanistan three years ago.

The decree significantly restricts personal freedoms and religious practices and affects aspects of daily life such as transportation, music, shaving, parties, and the behavior and appearance of women in public.

The rules, which are aimed at female members of Afghan society, explained that a woman’s voice is considered intimate and should not be heard when she sings, recites poetry or reads aloud in public. Women are also not allowed to look at men to whom they are not related by blood or marriage and vice versa.

According to the new law, women must cover their bodies and faces at all times in public to avoid temptation and to prevent them from seducing others. Their clothing must not be thin, short or tight, it stressed.

The legal document gives the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice the authority to enforce the rules in the impoverished, war-torn South Asian country. It can issue warnings before jailing violators for periods ranging from one hour to three days, and it can also confiscate property as punishment if deemed appropriate.

The actions of the Ministry of Vice and Virtue are already being closely monitored internationally.

The United Nations reported last month that the ministry’s increasingly stringent enforcement of public morals was contributing to a climate of fear and intimidation among Afghans through decrees and the methods used to enforce them.

One of the articles in the legal document released Wednesday bans the publication of images of living beings, which critics fear could further shrink Afghanistan’s media, forcing the closure of television channels, digital media and print newspapers. Media outlets already suffer from Taliban-imposed censorship.

Another article prohibits playing music on public transportation, female passengers from traveling unless accompanied by a male guardian, and mixing of unrelated men and women. In addition, passengers and drivers are required by law to adhere to established prayer times. Men are prohibited from shaving or trimming their beards to less than a handful, though the law does not define what qualifies as an “Islamic” hairstyle.

Human rights activists fear the latest restrictions are a sign of a significant increase in the Taliban’s efforts to enforce its version of Islamic law, particularly by oppressing women and keeping them out of public life.

The fundamentalist Taliban have already banned Afghan girls as young as 12 from school and many women from public and private sector jobs, including the United Nations. No country has officially recognized the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, largely because of their harsh treatment of women.

Richard Bennett, the UN-appointed special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, confirmed on Wednesday that the Taliban had banned him from entering the country, calling it a “retrograde step” and urging the de facto Afghan government to lift the ban.

Bennett has made multiple trips to Kabul and in his subsequent reports has highlighted the Taliban’s severe restrictions on Afghan women’s access to education, employment and public life in general. He has alleged that women and girls are “persecuted” on the basis of gender under Taliban rule, which he has called a crime against humanity.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid defended the UN envoy’s travel ban, claiming Bennett was “spreading propaganda” by providing “misleading” information to the international community.