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http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL0423282220070804

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian police detained more than 200 people and seized alcohol and drugs in a raid on a "satanic" underground rock concert, media in the conservative Islamic state reported on Saturday.

Iran, which has launched an annual summer crackdown on "immoral behavior", bans alcohol, narcotics and parties with unrelated men and women dancing, drinking and mixing. Western popular music is frowned upon.

The police operation took place on Wednesday night in the town of Karaj near the capital Tehran, at an event with local disc jockeys, rock and rap groups performing, the media said.

"Most of those arrested are wealthy young people ... who came to this party with the goal of attending a provocative, satanic concert," daily Tehran-e Emrouz quoted a senior police official, Reza Zarei, as saying.

Karaj's public prosecutor, Ali Farhadi, said invitations had been sent out via the Internet and that people from Britain and Sweden were among those held. Zarei suggested they were expatriate Iranians visiting the country.

Farhadi said 150 bottles of alcoholic drinks, 800 "obscene" CDs and different kinds of drugs had been confiscated by police, as well as "inappropriate" dresses that those behind the event were giving to female guests as gifts.

"Some 230 people who attended a rock party in Karaj were identified and arrested," Farhadi said on the Web site of Iran's state broadcaster.

He said 20 video cameras had also been seized and that the organizers had planned to blackmail girls after filming "inappropriate and obscene" videos of them.

Under sharia, Islamic law, imposed after Iran's 1979 revolution, women are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose clothing to disguise their figures and protect their modesty. Violators can receive lashes, fines or imprisonment.
- Reuters - 4 August 2007

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2142313,00.html

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.


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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.


- The Guardian – 6 August 2007

The news agency Reuters reports that more than 200 people were arrested during a police raid on an underground rap and rock concert in Iran. The raid was a part of an annual summer crackdown on “immoral behavior�. In Iran, alcohol as well as parties mixing unrelated men and women dancing and drinking together are illegal.


Satanic or merely unislamic?
The Swedish-Iranian freelance journalist Nima Daryamadj said to Svenska Dagbladet that most people in Iran are progressive: “[They] like to dress up, drink alcohol, go to parties and have sex. But they are not allowed to, because of the regime.�

Daryamadj writes on his blog Nordic Dervish that there are a lot of rock, metal and hip hop groups in Iran and that the music scene is surprisingly vivid considering the harsh situation for musicians.

Iranian authorities claim that the music event was satanic, but Daryamadj does not at all believe that this was the real reason: “Hard rock groups do flirt with Satanism, just like a funny thing, maybe it has been misinterpreted. But most often the regime is using these words on things they consider immoral or unislamic. For example, they use to refer to USA as the great Satan.�

According the Guardian, the idea that the US is trying to topple the Islamic regime through a “soft revolution� is one of the reasons why the “social security� campaign has hit the Iranian citizens so hard this year.
- Free Muse - 07 August 2007

Iran arrested more than 200 music fans at an underground rock concert that one official called a "satanic" gathering and authorities accused the youths of breaking Islamic law.

A witness said Sunday that police raided the concert as it was ending late Wednesday near the town of Karaj, some 30 miles west of the capital.

"Police detained the young people who had gathered to enjoy music in a private orchard," said the witness, who requested anonymity for fear of government retaliation.

The arrests come during a recent crack down on "immoral behavior" in Iran, where holding mixed parties or concerts without permission has been forbidden since the 1979 Revolution that brought hardline Shiite Muslim clerics to power.

Calls to authorities were not immediately returned on Sunday. But the public prosecutor in Karaj, Ali Farhadi, said Saturday about 230 people were arrested during the concert.

"Most of them were wealthy young people who were not aware of the satanic nature of the concert," Farhadi told state television. "A female singer, who was performing, and some rock and rap music bands were among the detained."

He said concert organizers had told young people to attend if they were eager to learn how "devil worshippers" perform music.

Local media reported organizers hid cameras to tape the attendants' behavior and later blackmail them. The reports also said police confiscated large amounts of alcohol and drugs.

Boys and girls mingled and danced together during the concert, and some of the women were not wearing the modest clothing and Islamic headscarf required by law, media reports said.

Concert organizers were not available for comment.

Iranian authorities have warned the population in recent weeks to avoid what they call "immoral behavior," which includes drinking alcohol or, for women, not wearing a headscarf.

The concert participant who witnessed the police raid said many detainees were released on bail Saturday and Sunday.
- Abc news