Rock n roll into jail (Iran)

[Rasputin]

Iran arrests 230 in raid on illegal rock concert


TEHRAN -Iranian police arrested 230 people in a raid on an underground rock concert close to Tehran, amid a growing crackdown on behaviour deemed contrary to Islamic law, local officials said on Saturday.

Large quantities of recording equipment, alcohol, bootleg CDs, revealing female clothing and also drugs were seized at the concert in the city of Karaj just west of the capital, in Tehran province.

"Two hundred and thirty people were identified and arrested in a 'rock party' in the Mohammadshahr district of Karaj," said Ali Farhadi, the prosecutor for Karaj, according to the website of state broadcasting.

"An investigation is in progress and soon a verdict will be issued for the main elements of the satan-worshipping instigatators and all these people will be punished."

He said that people from "Britain and Sweden" were among those arrested, without giving further details.

Rock groups in Iran are only allowed to perform with a licence from the ministry of culture, although this has not prevented numbers of underground formations sprouting up in recent years.

Iran is currently in the midst of one of its tightest moral crackdowns in years which has already seen thousands of women warned by the police for dressing that is deemed to be unIslamic.

Women must cover their heads and all bodily contours in Iran while the consumption of alcohol and mixed-sex parties are strictly illegal. Police have recently also been targeting men whose dress is deemed "satanic" or overly Westernised.

Over 110 of the particpants in the "rock party" have been transferred to the local Rajaieshahr prison while the others are in custody at the judiciary after being allowed bail, Farhadi said.

He said that the young participants in the concert, mostly from well-off backgrounds, had responded to an invitation published on the Internet.

"Special cards had been distributed to the participants so they could gain entry. Nobody could enter without a such a permit."

The organisers had also brought along a consignment of skimpy female clothing and were intending to subsequently "extort" the young participants by taking revealing footage of them at the party, he added.

Iranian police arrested 230 people in a raid on an underground rock concert close to Tehran, amid a growing crackdown on behaviour deemed contrary to Islamic law.

Large quantities of recording equipment, alcohol, bootleg CDs, revealing female clothing and drugs were seized at the concert in the city of Karaj just west of the capital, in Tehran province.

"Two hundred and thirty people were identified and arrested in a 'rock party' in the Mohammadshahr district of Karaj," Ali Farhadi, the prosecutor for Karaj, said, according to the website of state broadcasting.

"An investigation is in progress and soon a verdict will be issued for the main elements of the satan-worshipping instigators and all these people will be punished."

He said that people from Britain and Sweden were among those arrested, without giving further details.

Rock groups in Iran are only allowed to perform with a licence from the ministry of culture, although this has not prevented numbers of underground formations sprouting up in recent years.

Iran is currently in the midst of one of its tightest moral crackdowns in years, which has already seen thousands of women warned by the police for dressing that is deemed to be un-Islamic.

Women must cover their heads and all bodily contours in Iran while the consumption of alcohol and mixed-sex parties are strictly illegal.

Police have recently also been targeting men whose dress is deemed "satanic" or overly Westernised.

Over 110 of the participants in the "rock party" have been transferred to the local Rajaieshahr prison while the others are in custody at the judiciary after being allowed bail, Mr Farhadi said.

He said that the young participants in the concert, mostly from well-off backgrounds, had responded to an invitation published on the Internet.

"Special cards had been distributed to the participants so they could gain entry. Nobody could enter without a such a permit."

[Rasputin]

«بازداشت ۲۳۰ نفر در يک کنسرت زيرزمينی در کرج»

ماموران پليس جمهوری اسلامی روز شنبه ۱۳مرداد در يورش به يک کنسرت راک زيرزمينی در منطقه محمدشهر کرج، ۲۳۰ تن را بازداشت کردند.

خبرگزاری فرانسه از قول يکی از وب سايت های وابسته به صدا و سيمای جمهوری اسلامی گزارش داده است که در اين کنسرت، لوازم ضبط، سی دی، «لباس های دکولته،نوشيدنی های الکلی و مواد مخدر» کشف شده است.

در اين وب سايت از قول علی فرهادی دادستان کرج نقل شده که تحقيق در اين زمينه جريان دارد و افراد بازداشت شده، «مجازات خواهند شد.»

پايگاه اينترنتی «جام جم» نيز در گزارشی زير عنوان «آوای رپ خوان ها با حضور پليس خاموش شد» نوشته است: «در پی اطلاع ماموران انتظامی از يک فراخوان اينترنتی برای حضور جوانان در مراسم رپ خوانی در يکی از باغهای اطراف کرج ، موضوع در دستور کار ماموران قرار گرفت و با تحقيقات تخصصی مشخص شد، عاملان برگزاری اين پارتی پس از دعوت ، عنوان کرده اند بزودی با کسانی که تمايل به حضور دارند تماس خواهند گرفت ، به طوری که هيچ يک از دعوت شدگان از مکان و زمان برگزاری پارتی رپ خوان ها اطلاع نداشتند. »

اين پايگاه اينترنتی همچنين نوشته است: «با جمع بندی اطلاعات مربوط به اين پارتی و گزارش موضوع ، ماموران با مجوز قضايی وارد باغ شدند و دهها دختر و پسر جوان را که با پوشش نامناسب در حال رقص و پايکوبی بودند، دستگير کردند.»

بيش از ۱۱۰ تن از بازداشت شدگان به بازداشت گاه رجايی شهر منتقل شده اند.

بر پايه اين گزارش، تعدادی از خوانندگان نيز بازداشت شده اند. اين گزارش همچنين افزوده است: «در تحقيقات معلوم شد که برخی از شرکت کنندگان در اين پارتی ، در خارج از کشور زندگی می کنند و به دعوت برگزارکنندگان ، در اين محل حضور پيدا کرده اند. تحقيق در اين زمينه ادامه دارد.

محدوديت های موسيقی راک

گروه های موسيقی راک در ايران، تنها در صورتی که از مجوز قانونی برخوردار باشند، اجازه فعاليت دارند. در سال های اخير شمار گروه های موسيقی راک حال افزايش بوده است.

سرپرست يکی از گروه های موسيقی راک اخيرا در گفت و گو با خبرگزاری فارس، به محدوديت هايی که اين نوع موسيقی با آن رو به رو است اشاره کرد و گفت: « برای توضيح بيشتر به سال ۸۲ بر می گردم که پس از پايان کنسرت بدون اينکه دليل مشخصی داشته باشد سه روز روانه زندان شديم و هيچ کس نپرسيد چرا و به چه جرمی به زندان رفتيم و تا همين الان هم متوجه نشديم که چرا برخورد امنيتی با ما شد.»

در پايان فروردين ماه سال جاری نيز تعدادی از گروه های موسيقی «زيرزمينی» بازداشت شدند و استوديو هايی که در آن آهنگ های خود را ضبط می کردند توسط نيروی انتظامی پلمپ شد.

يکی از خواننده*های رپ در تهران در آن زمان به راديو فردا گفته بود که شش تن در اين رابطه بازداشت شدند. به گفته وی، از روز ۳۰ فروردين، سه استوديو که موسيقی زيرزمينی را در آن ضبط می*کردند، پلمپ شد و چند نفرازخواننده*های اين گروه*ها دستگير شدند.

[Rasputin]

[indian_blues]

[b]satan-worshipping instigatators

very interesting name.

[Rasputin]

Iranian morals police arrest 230 in raid on 'satanist' rave

Iran's drive to enforce Islamic morals netted revellers from Britain and Sweden after police swooped on a "satanic" concert organised over the internet.
Police arrested 230 people and seized drugs, alcohol and 800 illicit CDs after raiding the event in Karaj, 12 miles west of Tehran. Those arrested included young women in skimpy and "inappropriate" clothing, officers said.

Reza Zarei, Tehran's provincial police chief, said the operation also resulted in the confiscation of 20 video cameras, with which organisers allegedly planned to shoot "obscene" films and then blackmail female participants.

The event included rock and rap performers as well as female singers, who are banned under Iran's Islamic laws. The authorities described the artistes as "satanist" without elaborating. Iran's rulers routinely label much of western-style popular music and culture as decadent.
Preparations were kept so secret that revellers were made aware of the venue only hours before the rave.

Although security guards were hired to act as lookouts and plans were made to clear the site of alcohol and drugs the police found 150 bottles of alcohol and drugs, including marijuana.

Most of the detainees came from rich families and included people from Iranian backgrounds who had travelled from Britain and Sweden, Mr Zarei said. "This is the first time that tens of male and female participants have been invited to such an event through an internet call," he told the semi-official ISNA news agency. Rock concerts are rarely permitted in Iran but are sometimes held illegally in venues such as underground car parks.

Last Wednesday's raid occurred during a government-backed "social security" campaign in which police have arrested or cautioned thousands of women whose dress or headscarves have been deemed insufficiently Islamic. While such offensives occur periodically, this year's has been carried out with unusual intensity over a prolonged period amid accusations that the US is trying to topple the Islamic regime through a "soft revolution".

Authorities last month doubled the number of officers deployed on morals patrols. Police have been instructed to arrest young men with "western" hairstyles. Those arrested are released only after giving the names of their barbers and making signed commitments to get hair-cuts. They then have to return to the police station to show their new hairstyles.

[Rasputin]

Iran arrests 20 in raid on party

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iranian police said on Thursday they have arrested 20 young people in a raid on party in the city of Karaj outside Tehran, the site of an illegal rock concert last week where 230 were detained.

Police Colonel Majid Bazmun told the state IRNA news agency that police surrounded the building where the "decadent gathering" was taking place after acting on a tip-off from a member of the public.

"All the people who attended the party were arrested by the police forces. The case will be handed over to the judiciary when the investigation has been completed," he added.

The latest action come a week after police arrested 230 people in a raid on a "Satan-worshipping" underground rock concert in Karaj, in one of the biggest such arrests in recent months.

There has been no further information over the fate of those arrested at the rock concert.

Iran is currently in the midst of one of its tightest moral crackdowns in years, which has already seen thousands of women warned by the police for dressing that is deemed to be unIslamic.

Mixed-sex parties are strictly illegal in Iran. It is forbidden to consume alcohol in public or private and attend gatherings with improperly-clad members of the opposite sex. Dancing to Western music is also frowned upon.

Iran's overall police chief Esmaeel Ahmadi Moghaddam said that the moral crackdown, dubbed the drive to "elevate security in society", would continue as it had proved popular with the public.

"With respect to the evaluation of the police and people's satisfaction the plan to elevate security in society will be pursued with full force," he told the Mehr news agency.

"The plan of elevating social security, which has been imposed in different phases, has made people feel more secure in society and increased people's confidence in the police," he added.

[Rasputin]

Iranian police arrest partygoers

Police in Iran say they have arrested 20 young people at a party in the city of Karaj, north-west of the capital Tehran, on Wednesday night.
More than 200 people were arrested a week ago in the same city for attending an illegal rock concert.

Parties, attended by members of both sexes, and where alcohol is consumed, are illegal in Iran.

The Iranian authorities have in recent months increased their enforcement of what is deemed to be moral behaviour.

Dress codes for women have been a particular target.

Police Col Majid Bazmun told the state Irna news agency that police surrounded the building in Karaj where the "decadent gathering" was taking place after acting on a tip-off from a member of the public.

Iran's chief of police, Esmaeel Ahmadi Moghaddam, said that the crackdown of recent months, described officially as the drive to "elevate security in society", would continue as it had proved popular with the public.