Over 70 prostitutes arrested in Iran

Iranian police have arrested over 70 prostitutes, some of them infected with HIV/AIDS, in a major three day-long crackdown in and around Tehran, press reports said. "More than 70 prostitutes aged between 17 and 24, some of them with AIDS", were detained in a sweep in three Tehran districts, the Abrar daily said.

The report said the arrests were ordered by Judge Hossein Panahi, who is charged with "cleaning up" the streets of the capital and added that the anti-vice operation would continue. The Kayhan newspaper also reported the arrests of nine men and women operating two brothels in the towns of Rasht and Anzali, situated in the north-west of Iran.

Prostitution is strictly illegal in Iran and subject to harsh punishments, but police and Islamic militia raids on brothels are frequently reported. According to official figures, at least 30,000 prostitutes work in the Islamic republic.

[Source: UNESCAP, Monday, May 5, 2003]