SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 2001
Iran hard-liners toughen social code
TEHRAN, Iran: Police in the capital have issued an order forbidding restaurants from serving women wearing makeup, stores from selling T-shirts emblazoned with movie stars, and men from going to work in neckties - a symbol of Western decadence.
The order is in step with recent measures by the hard-line judiciary to crack down on so-called social vices. The police are under the direction of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who also appoints the head of the judiciary.
Reformists say the move has no legal basis and is intended to undermine President Mohammad Khatami, who has led a campaign to ease strict Islamic interpretation of appropriate public dress and behavior.
Initial reaction to the order was mixed.
Bahareh Abbasi, 22, said police threats would not prevent her from appearing with moderate makeup in public.
"We voted for an easing of state interference in our private lives, not a toughening of restrictions," she said. "I can't accept being forced to appear as something I don't believe in."
Majid Hadavand, owner of Naqsh-e-Jahan restaurant in central Tehran, said, however, he'd rather lose customers than challenge police regulations.
"If I serve a woman wearing heavy makeup, then police will close my restaurant. Fewer customers is better than no customers," he said.
The directives, issued late on Friday and carried on Saturday by the official Islamic Republic News Agency, threaten to arrest shop owners selling dogs and monkeys - generally considered unclean in Islam - or clothes bearing images of Western movie stars.
The order also prohibits coffee shops and restaurants from serving women wearing heavy makeup or flouting the Islamic dress code, IRNA said.
"Shopping malls are not allowed to play music or display women's underwear or partially nude mannequins in their windows," the police statement said.
Also blacklisted are neckties for managers and employees in their offices, IRNA quoted police as saying.
Shop owners have through Sunday to implement the order, according to the statement.
A similar order was issued by police in the holy city of Qom, IRNA reported.
Owning dogs and monkeys has recently become popular with some wealthy families, while a growing number of women, especially in more liberal northern Tehran, have appeared wearing makeup.
Last year, a T-shirt depicting Leonardo DiCaprio, the star of the movie Titanic, was a big seller.
The statement warned of serious consequences for stores displaying ties for sale or shops or beauty salons employing unveiled staff. It did not elaborate.
"There is no law in Iran that prohibits displaying and wearing necktie or selling dogs or refusing food to women in makeup. They are imposing their own interpretations of Islamic rules as law," said Karim Arqandehpour, the deputy head of the Press Guild Association.
Arqandehpour said the move violates "the spirit of Khatami's reform program, which has been endorsed several times by a majority of Iranians."
The move comes less than a week after Khatami pledged to continue his popular campaign for greater social and political freedoms.
But his efforts have been thwarted on every corner by hard-liners, who fear such changes could erode their enormous influence over nearly every aspect of life.
Last week, the conservative head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, called for an all-out war against social vices. As a result, public floggings, a rare punishment in Iran, have increased with dozens of people lashed for drinking alcohol, harassing women and having illicit sex. ( AP )
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