KABUL: Afghans celebrated Nowruz, the Persian New Year, on Monday but festivities were muted, taking place under Taliban rule for the first time in decades and as the administration cancelled a public holiday.
The Taliban administration said on Sunday although the holiday was officially cancelled, they would not prevent people from celebrating the popular festival privately.
Nowruz, celebrated throughout Iran and Central Asia, is usually a colourful celebration in Afghanistan when families gather to prepare festive dishes and welcome the beginning of spring. The Taliban say the festival is not in line with Islamic law.
People often picnic and play music outdoors and a banner-raising ceremony known as Jahenda Bala, takes place at two mosques in Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif.
Residents from the capital and from northern Afghanistan where Nowruz is particularly popular, told Reuters this year had been much quieter than usual.
"Before, people were celebrating Nowruz with music and happiness," said Dawlat Mohammad Joya, a resident of the northern province of Balkh. "But this year, yes, people celebrated Nowruz but not freely like before."
Sayed Yusuf Husaini, from Sakhi Shah-e Mardan shrine, in Kabul said the Jahenda Bala ceremony had taken place early on Monday and the Taliban administration had supported extra security for the celebration.
But at Rawze-e-Sharif shrine in Mazar-i-Sharif, the ceremony did not take place, according to a leader there who did not elaborate on the reason.
A Ministry of Information spokesman did not immediately respond to request for comment on the ceremony.
The Taliban took over the country in August. The international community and many Afghans have called on the group to form a representative government and recognise the pluralism of the country, which is made up of multiple ethnic groups and cultural influences.
Latifa Sadat, a history student at Kabul University, said she was disappointed she had to study instead of being able to celebrate outside with friends in the warm Spring weather.
"We started our Nowruz by doing exams, we had no picnic," she said.
Afghans mark Nowruz festival under Taliban with muted celebrations
https://arab.news/9ggyf
Afghans mark Nowruz festival under Taliban with muted celebrations
- Taliban cancelled public holiday but said would not prevent people from celebrating privately
- Nowruz, celebrated throughout Iran and Central Asia, is usually a colourful celebration in Afghanistan
Second doctor in Matthew Perry overdose case sentenced to home confinement
- Dr. Mark Chavez, 55, a onetime San Diego-based physician, pleaded guilty in federal court in October
- Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also sentenced Chavez to 300 hours of community service
LOS ANGELES: A second California doctor was sentenced on Tuesday to eight months of home confinement for illegally supplying “Friends” star Matthew Perry with ketamine, the powerful sedative that caused the actor’s fatal drug overdose in a hot tub in 2023.
Dr. Mark Chavez, 55, a onetime San Diego-based physician, pleaded guilty in federal court in October to a single felony count of conspiracy to distribute the prescription anesthetic and surrendered his medical license in November.
Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also sentenced Chavez to 300 hours of community service. As part of his plea agreement, Chavez admitted to selling ketamine to another physician Dr. Salvador Plasencia, 44, who in turn supplied the drug to Perry, though not the dose that ultimately killed the performer. Plasencia, who pleaded guilty to four counts of unlawful drug distribution, was sentenced earlier this month to 2 1/2 years behind bars.
He and Chavez were the first two of five people convicted in connection with Perry’s ketamine-induced death to be sent off to prison.
The three others scheduled to be sentenced in the coming weeks — Jasveen Sangha, 42, a drug dealer known as the “Ketamine Queen;” a go-between dealer Erik Fleming, 56; and Perry’s former personal assistant, Iwamasa, 60.
Sangha admitted to supplying the ketamine dose that killed Perry, and Iwamasa acknowledged injecting Perry with it. It was Iwamasa who later found Perry, aged 54, face down and lifeless, in the jacuzzi of his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023.
An autopsy report concluded the actor died from the acute effects of ketamine,” which combined with other factors in causing him to lose consciousness and drown.
Perry had publicly acknowledged decades of substance abuse, including the years he starred as Chandler Bing on the hit 1990s NBC television series “Friends.”
According to federal law enforcement officials, Perry had been receiving ketamine infusions for treatment of depression and anxiety at a clinic where he became addicted to the drug.
When doctors there refused to increase his dosage, he turned to unscrupulous providers elsewhere willing to exploit Perry’s drug dependency as a way to make quick money, authorities said. Ketamine is a short-acting anesthetic with hallucinogenic properties that is sometimes prescribed to treat depression and other psychiatric disorders. It also has seen widespread abuse as an illicit party drug.
