Iranian state media reported on Sunday that Iranian police had arrested 120 people on charges of “drinking alcohol” and “mixed dancing” at an “illegal” party in a forest in northern Mazandaran province.
Mohammad Sadegh Akbari, the head of the province’s judiciary, said that according to what was reported by the country’s state television, the ceremony was arrested by the police due to morality and a lawsuit was filed.
According to AFP, Akbari added that “criminal acts” committed in the Nika forest include “alcohol consumption, illicit relationships, mixed dancing and not wearing headscarves.”
Many Iranians who seek to escape the chaos of urban life gather in the north of the country for nature walks and recreational activities.
But according to Islamic law that has been in force in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, women are required to wear headscarves. Dancing with the opposite sex is forbidden.
In April, Iranian police arrested three women after posting a video in cyberspace showing them dancing in a cemetery.
Dancing with homosexuals is not a crime in Iran, but forensic experts believe that a person who dances in public or in a movie posted on the Internet can be immorally prosecuted.
Source: Lebanon Debate
