IRNA (STATE NEWS AGENCY)
JUNE 16, 2001

 TEHERAN - A Tehran criminal court has condemned a 20-year-old runaway girl to 50 lashes as well as four months imprisonment, the daily Afarinesh said on Saturday.

 The girl identified only by her first name 'Maryam' got the sentence upon a complaint by her brother for staying away from home and having relations with a boy beyond marriage, it said.

 In October, a university professor of social relations was quoted as saying that the number of young girls running away from home was on the rise.

 Farideh Purgiv was cited as saying in the daily Qods that the prostitution age had dropped below 20 and drug consumption had become more rife among Iranian women.