Iran detains 64 'half-naked' young people at pool party for 'encouraging decadence'

Dozens of youngsters have been detained at a pool party in Iran, the country's state TV reported on Wednesday 9 August. It is the latest police crackdown on Iranian youth defying the country's strict Islamic rules.

Islamic Revolutionary Guards arrested 64 "half-naked" youths who were dancing and drinking alcohol at a party on the outskirts of the city Isfahan, central Iran, on Tuesday 8 August, according to Irib News.

The TV station said that some of the partygoers had published a video of the event on social media to "encourage decadence".

It is illegal and considered a sin under Islamic law in Iran for unrelated men and women to attend parties together and drink alcohol.

In recent years, Iranian authorities have cracked down on people accused of breaking Islamic rules, despite President Hassan Rouhani's election promise that he would protect freedom of expression and improve the rights of women and minorities.

Last summer, police arrested 132 men and women, including several bisexual people, who were drinking at a restaurant in Tehran. Several days earlier, 30 students partying at a graduation ceremony had been arrested and received 99 lashes each for violating the country's strict moral code.

The arrests followed the detention of eight people accused of involvement in making "obscene" music videos and eight people working for "un-Islamic" modelling agencies.

In April 2016, Tehran's police chief recruited 7,000 undercover morality agents to patrol the streets and police youngsters, women, and LGBT people defying the country's strict Islamic rules. Anyone who has been caught refusing to wear the hijab or drinking alcohol could face arrest.