Police in Iran have arrested 19 people in a raid on a brothel in the northern city of Rasht, the conservative Afarinesh newspaper reported Tuesday. The owners, a married couple, were amongst those detained in the raid which followed a surveillance operation in the city, capital of the Caspian Sea province of Gilan, the paper said.
Iran's mounting economic woes have led to an explosion of street prostitution in recent years, in spite the use of the whip and other strict punishments by the Islamic regime over the past twenty years. Last month, reformers within the government of moderate President Mohammad Khatami sparked furor amongst the conservative-led judiciary and security forces by proposing the establishment of state-run "decency houses" as a way of regulating the world's oldest profession. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
