Women, tie-sellers targeted in Tehran

TEHRAN - Agence France-Presse

Visitors to Tehran’s International Book Fair are seen in this photo. Female booth attendants at an international trade fair selling men’s ties have become targets. AP photo

Female booth attendants at an international trade fair and shops selling men’s ties have become targets in a strict crackdown by Tehran police on clothing deemed un-Islamic, Iranian media reported yesterday.

Women “not properly observing the hijab,” or the Islamic headscarf, as they staffed stands at an international food exhibition, prompted police to shut down 80 of the booths, Iranian deputy police chief Ahmad Reza Radan was quoted as saying in the Mardomsalari newspaper. His boss, police chief Esmail Ahmadi Moqadam, said the female attendants had been warned, “but they did not take it seriously, that is why we shut them (the booths) down.” It was not known if the women were fined or arrested, as often happens for such offences, nor was it known if any foreigners were among them.

The fair, which wrapped up yesterday, hosted exhibitions by companies from several countries, including Turkey, Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, South Korea, China and India. According to Mardomsalari and other media, police have also launched a fresh campaign to enforce an often-ignored ban on the sale of ties, apparel deemed by regime hardliners as a symbol of Western cultural influence rejected since Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.