Iran shuts down 24 cafes in Internet crackdown

[oberliner]

Source: Reuters

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian police have closed down 24 Internet cafes and other coffee shops in as many hours, detaining 23 people, as part of a broad crackdown on immoral behaviour in the Islamic state, official media said on Sunday.

The action in Tehran province was the latest move in a campaign against fashion and other practices deemed incompatible with Islamic values, including women flouting strict dress codes and barber shops offering men Western hair styles.

"Using immoral computer games, storing obscene photos ... and the presence of women wearing improper hijab were among the reasons why they have been closed down," Colonel Nader Sarkari, a provincial police commander, said.

Since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the presidency in 2005, promising a return to the values of the 1979 Islamic revolution, hardliners have pressed for tighter controls on "immoral behaviour".

Read more: http://in.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idINIndia-31010620071216

[Warpy]

1. They'll be back in a week or two

The pressure for reform in that country, especially relaxation of the stupid rules against women, is intense. Likely much would have taken place and Ahmedinejad would never have had a chance in the world of being elected dogcatcher had we not had Israel, AIPAC, and Cheney all yelping for a war.

Iran has a huge population of young people who don't remember that revolution, who don't give a shit about the Shah, and simply want a taste of the freedom that young people in the west have. The Council of Mullahs will find their power decrease as time goes on if only we can keep warmongering oily neocon assholes beholden to AIPAC the hell out of our government.

[thunder rising]

4. Very well put

I agree. The revolution, hostages, and the Shaw is yesterday. Now if we can get an administration the believes in diplomacy ... just imagine.

[AnneD]

10. ITA

and Iraq would have fallen like a ripe peach if the the sanctions and weapons inspections had been allowed to run their course. We could have handled the problem diplomatically. We still would have had to fight in Afghanistan-but we would have had better results and Al Quieda would be nothing but a splinter group and Bin Laden a memory and we would been welcomed in Afghanistan. We were seen as an honest broker in the Middle East until this.

[annabanana]

2. Where can we get an accurate account of

"enforcement" of these codes... Does it go in waves? Is it more likely to happen in one part of the country than another? What are the lines of authority etc...

[ohio2007]

6. don't look for answers from western MSM

try searching You Tube for Iranian bytes

[Boojatta]

3. "Using immoral computer games, storing obscene photos"

If nobody did those things, then the government of Iran would be forced to hire plainclothes police to do those things. They do need some pretext to shut down places where people can discuss politics and get access to information about the world outside of Iran.

[DavidDvorkin]

5. Bad translation! I bet that's not what happened!

Biased Western media! Misrepresentation! Everything's fine!

Etc.

[ohio2007]

7. Iran reformists criticize Ahmadinejad's policies

Iran reformists criticize Ahmadinejad's policies - Post Media Reply
Iran reformists criticize Ahmadinejad's policies
Fri Dec 14, 2007 10:14am EST
By Zahra Hosseinian
http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USHOS44835520071214

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A coalition of Iranian reformists on Friday criticized President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his hardline policies and said they were worsening a crisis with the international community.

Iranian reformists and some senior clerics, including former president Mohammad Khatami, have challenged Ahmadinejad's nuclear policy, blaming him for the imposition of tougher U.N. and U.S. sanctions in response to Tehran's atomic work.

The Coalition of Reformist Groups said reformists planned to field candidates in the Islamic state's parliamentary elections in 2008, after winning seats in local council elections last year in a turnout that has boosted their confidence.

"People in the country are witnessing the country's (isolated) position in the international arena and the two (U.N. Security Council) resolutions that has been imposed on Iran," former education minister Morteza Haji told a news conference at the coalition's building in Tehran.

Haji, who also heads the coalition in the capital Tehran, called Ahmadinejad's government "the most unstable government" the country has ever had since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

"We (reformists) believe the only way out of these threats and sanctions is with people's votes," Abdollah Naseri, the coalition's spokesman said.

Domestic criticism of the handling of Iran's nuclear policy is unusual and sensitive because it is seen as a matter of national security.

Iran is at a standoff with the West over its disputed nuclear program. Tehran says its atomic work is peaceful and aimed at generating electricity, but Western countries fear it is a cover to build bombs.

The U.N. Security Council has imposed two rounds of limited sanctions on Iran since last December over Tehran's failure to heed a U.N. demand to halt uranium enrichment.

Reformists believe Iran should temporarily suspend enrichment, as it did under Khatami. Ahmadinejad has remained defiant, calling the two sanction resolutions "a piece of torn paper" and denouncing as "traitors" Iranian politicians who want the country to suspend its nuclear work.

Iran's reformists, who want political and social change, were swept out of power when they lost control of parliament and then the presidency in 2005.

Asked whether reformists were concerned that the conservative-controlled Guardian Council, which vets assembly candidates, would bar many of their candidates, Naseri said:

"What we think about is a healthy, competitive and fair elections. We will continue our activities."

Haji said the coalition will "continue to criticize and evaluate the government".


http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1ec_1197659955

[tom_paine]

8. Iranian Fundamentalists must be thrilled that the Bushies have empowered them so much.

That country was strongly democratizing, until Bushler took over and began rapidly dismantling American Democracy.

That tyranny, combined with the most myopic foreign policy since Hitler invaded Poland in an exercise similar to the Iraq invasion in any number of way, has empoweed tyrants and dicttators all over the world.

[Zorra]

9. Yep. Conservatives is jes wunnerful, no matter whut religion they is. n/t