122,000 warned over un-Islamic dress in Iran
Iranian police have warned 122,000 people, mostly women, about flouting strict Islamic dress codes since April and nearly 7,000 of those attended classes on respecting the rules, a newspaper said on Thursday. Such crackdowns, on the women as well as on men deemed to have haircuts considered too Westernised, are an annual event and usually last a few weeks. But this years measures have been longer and more severe than in recent years. Some government critics see the crackdown as part of broader measures to quash dissent in the media and other areas. Others see it as part of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejads efforts to revive values from the early days after the 1979 revolution. Since the beginning of the crackdown from Ordibehesht (the Iranian month that started in April), 122,000 people have been given a warning for improper dress and 6,947 of them have taken part in guidance classes, the daily Jomhuri-ye Islami reported.
Posted by: Fred 2007-10-12 |