60 People Arrested with Green Wristbands at a Party in West Tehran

A news agency affiliated with the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran reported the arrest of 60 individuals who, according to the agency, were attending a "night party" in the Tehran neighborhood of Tehran Sar with "green wristbands." According to the "Defensive Sacred" news agency, these 40 men and 20 women were arrested on the evening of Friday, March 13, while "committing a crime and consuming alcohol and being intoxicated," and "alcoholic beverages and drugs" were discovered at the party. The arrests were made following information received from the "intelligence teams of the Basij of Zone 207 Al-Ghadir Tehran Sar" and with the presence of the moral security police and "judicial agents" of the Basij force. Samad Asadi, the commander of the Basij of Zone 207 Al-Ghadir Tehran Sar, stated: "In this party, which was held in a sports club related to a non-governmental organization, the most advanced lighting equipment and tools were used." According to Mr. Samadi, this club has been sealed, and the arrested individuals have been handed over to the police. The green wristband mentioned in this report is a symbol associated with support for the protests of 2009 in Iran. In recent months, there have been reports of the arrest of several individuals participating in mixed parties by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). For instance, news websites in Mazandaran province reported the arrest of 20 girls and boys in Amol by the IRGC in cooperation with the police on Thursday, January 15. On January 17, the IRGC in Mashhad announced that it had arrested 84 women and men at a "night party" in that city. Meanwhile, in recent months, police commanders in other regions of Iran have reported the arrest of several individuals participating in "night parties." Mehdi Narimani, the police commander of Fereydunkenar in Mazandaran province, reported on September 6 the arrest of 44 individuals at a "night party" in the Khazarshahr Southern town and the seizure of several luxury vehicles worth several hundred million tomans. In the same month, Farhang Nowruzi, the police commander of Tabriz metropolis, announced that 19 individuals had been arrested in two "night parties." Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic, attacks by police, Basij, IRGC, etc., on mixed or even non-mixed parties in various parts of Iran where alcoholic beverages are consumed have been common. These attacks have sometimes resulted in casualties; for instance, in October 2011, a police raid on a party in Mashhad caused a young girl to jump from the sixth floor to escape and die.