AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
JULY 30, 2000

TEHRAN - Iran's hardline Jomhuri-Eslami paper hit out at government officials on Sunday for being too preoccupied with factional disputes and ignoring growing corruption among the country's youth. "Every day we witness thousands of cases of corruption in the city of Tehran. Telephone booths have turned into centers for propagating moral corruption," the paper said in its commentary.

The commentary came in the wake of an announcement by an official of Tehran's cultural and artistic organization that prostitution and drug use were rampant among Iranian youth who, like their elders, are increasingly ignoring moral values, especially regarding religious duties. The head of the organization, Mohammad-Ali Zam, described drug addiction as "the rage" among schoolchildren.

He said that in the two years 1998 and 1999 prostitution among high school students had increased by 635 percent and suicides had more than doubled from their previous record high. The Iranian population, estimated at 62 million, is one of the world's youngest, with 35 million people under the age of 20.