Iranian police crack down on TV satellite dishes

Iranian police have renewed a crackdown on television satellite dishes, banned for beaming Western 'decadent' images into the Islamic Republic.

A police spokesman said yesterday that hundreds of dishes had been removed from homes in the capital Tehran and other cities this week as part of a campaign against “social vice”.

”We have a law against the use of satellite dishes. Police are duty-bound to implement it,” said the spokesman, who asked not to be named.

Iran outlawed satellite dishes in the mid-1990s as part of efforts to curb the inroads of Western culture. But the ban was largely ignored under former president Mohammad Khatami who tried to increase social freedoms after he was elected in 1997.

But after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the presidency last year with the backing of conservative clerics and Basij religious militias, hardliners have pressed for renewed restrictions, warning of a threat to Iran’s Islamic values.

“Police came to our building and collected all the dishes.
But they were very friendly,” said Reza Sharifi, a 45-year-old teacher, who lives in wealthy northern Tehran.

A judiciary official told the official IRNA news agency that the crackdown was a nationwide plan. Authorities also blame opposition television channels, mainly based in the United States, for inciting protests against the Islamic Republic.

Source: Media Network, Reuters

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