NEWS))))))
Iranian authorities hanged 12 people in Tehran on Sunday, the state broadcasting corporation IRIB reported on its website. Tehran’s chief prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi announced that the 12 unnamed individuals were hanged earlier in the day. He said their charges included kidnapping and drug trafficking. Four other individuals were hanged in Tehran last week on similar charges, he added.
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Iranian authorities hanged a man in public in the northern province of Mazandaran on Thursday, state media reported. The unnamed man was hanged in a public square in the city of Sari, the state broadcasting corporation IRIB said on its website. He was accused of rape. The report said that he had been detained by security forces during the ongoing crackdown on “hooliganism”.
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Associated France Press reported that Iran on Monday launched a new wave of a moral crackdown against women who "dress like models" and men whose hairstyles are deemed un Islamic, police said. Tehran's police force dispatched dozens of police cars and minibuses into the early evening rush-hour to enforce the dress rules at major squares in the city centre, an AFP correspondent said. The new "plan to increase security in society" -- which is limited to Tehran but will later extend nationwide -- comes after a pre-summer drive by the police resulted in thousands of warnings and hundreds of arrests.
"We have vowed to continue the campaign to reinforce the plan to increase security in society with new personnel who have received the necessary training," the Tehran police head of information Mehdi Ahmadi told reporters as the first police forces were dispatched. "This notably includes the use of 100 female police officers," he added. He said that the campaign would target women who were badly veiled, wore overly tight overcoats, sported excessively short trousers and were "dressed like models." "As far as men are concerned we will act against those who have Western-style haircuts and clothing. We are also going to act against clothes shops and hairdressers." Ahmadi said the policy will be first to give a verbal warning to those who infringe the law and, if necessary, they will then be arrested and taken for "consultation." "Normally the problem is resolved here. If not, and these cases are often those of re-offenders, the case is sent to the judiciary," Ahmadi said. An AFP correspondent in Vanak Square in central Tehran saw women being apprehended and then being escorted towards a waiting minibus by female police officers. They then waited in the bus as the operation continued. Other women were seen quickly adjusting their headscarves to cover loose hair when they saw the officers. Women in Iran are obliged to cover all bodily contours and their heads, but in recent years many have pushed the boundaries by showing off bare ankles and fashionably styled hair beneath their headscarves. Although the April crackdown was the severest such drive in years, some women are still donning figure-hugging coats and skimpy headscarves. The wacky hairdos favored by some young men in Tehran are also much in evidence, AFP said.
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Two earthquakes struck the province of Hormozgan, southern Iran, on Monday and Tuesday, state media reported. The first of the quakes measured 4.2 on the Richter scale, the official news agency IRNA reported on Tuesday. The government-owned news agency Fars said that the second quake which struck early on Tuesday was recorded at 4.9 on the Richter scale. There were no reports of damages.
