No Passport for Women Expelled from Persian Gulf Countries for Prostitution

TEHRAN, Jan 14, 2000 (AFP) - Iran will no longer issue passports to Iranian women who have been expelled from Persian Gulf countries for prostitution, press reports said Sunday.

The measure, taken to clamp down on "professional drug smugglers," was decided after recent mass expulsions of Iranian prostitutes from several Persian Gulf countries, the weekly Omid-e Javan said, citing police officials.

Newspapers said last week that police have also recently closed 29 brothels in Tehran, an unprecedented report in Islamic Iran, where the existence of prostitution had been officially unmentionable.