Iran - Thursday 11  January 2001 - Agence France Presse

TEHRAN, Jan 11 (AFP) - Tehran police have shut down 29 brothels in the well-heeled northern districts of the city and arrested more than 85 madams and pimps, a press report said Thursday, quoting a judicial official.

The daily Jam-e-jam said those arrested, whose life style included luxury cars and mobile telephones, had been sentenced to jail terms, fines and whippings.

The report was unprecedented in Islamic Iran, where the existence of prostitution is officially unmentionable.

The official said that unidentified "foreigners" might be implicated, referring to police swoops on "depraved" New Year parties in which 313 people, including foreigners, were arrested.

Although all the foreigners had since been freed, according to judicial sources, the official said the Tehran judiciary would not shrink from prosecuting those involved.

"When we hear that these people have immunity or that some are diplomats, it is unacceptable," he said. "In the Islamic republic we have our own regulations and laws which must be applied."

The official said that the foreign ministry had been informed and could act in line with its legal duties, while investigations might reveal that participants at such "orgies" were spies.

"But so far the courts consider that they had no particular mission, that the offences committed were private and in no way affected relations between states," he added.