Arrest of 11 Individuals in Sistan and Baluchestan Related to 'Modeling'

The Intelligence Center of the IRGC in Sistan and Baluchestan reported the dismantling of what it called 'the largest organized modeling network and promotion of corruption' in the province, stating that 11 individuals identified as 'leaders' of this group were arrested in Zahedan, and 50 others were 'summoned and guided' in relation to this case. The news of these arrests, whose identities have not been disclosed, was provided to news agencies on Sunday (October 15) by the public relations office of the IRGC Intelligence Center in Sistan and Baluchestan. This is one of the few reports related to such arrests in the impoverished province of Sistan and Baluchestan. In the IRGC's statement, the charges against the arrested individuals include participation in a 'cultural infiltration project and undermining the beliefs of youth.' Other accusations include 'facilitating corruption and promoting vulgarity and prostitution on social media and underground studios' and 'spreading modeling and unauthorized photography and publishing it online for illegal income.' According to the statement, 'this modeling network illegally and underground attracted a large number of girls and boys, deceiving them and photographing them in various poses.' The IRGC also added that 'all individuals of this organized modeling network were dealt with after coordination with the judicial authority on the morning of October 15.' According to this statement, more than 50 individuals in this regard were 'summoned and guided,' and 'three underground studios were discovered and sealed,' and 'all active social media pages of this network were blocked.' On October 5, Mehdi Khodabakhshi, the deputy head of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Mashhad, reported the closure of 9 modeling centers in the city and the arrest of 7 individuals in this regard. In recent months, the IRGC and judicial authorities have reported 'dealing' with hundreds of managers of 'modeling' groups on social media and users of these groups in the provinces of Tehran, Fars, Kurdistan, Semnan, and Ardabil. Among them, the Cyber Organized Crime Center, affiliated with the IRGC, reported on Tuesday, August 23, that 'managers' of 450 pages, channels, or groups on mobile social networks were arrested or summoned on charges such as 'criminal modeling' and 'insulting religious beliefs.' This center also announced on May 15 that in a project called 'Spider Project 2' on social media, especially Instagram, after 'identifying' 170 individuals managing modeling pages, legal cases were formed for 29 individuals, of which 8 were arrested and the rest summoned. In this context, the website of this center announced on June 1 and 12 that the IRGC had given 'serious warnings' to several photography studios that, according to this center, played a 'significant role in the criminal cycle of modeling.' Reporters Without Borders has stated that since December 2015, 'more than 800 cases of summons and arrests' have occurred across the country. In this context, the Revolutionary Prosecutor of Ardabil stated: 'We have dismantled a vulgar modeling network.' Summons or arrests of 'dozens of social media activists' in the provinces of Kurdistan and Fars by the IRGC, and the 'closure of the Greenland recreational complex' in Shiraz on charges of 'participating in the modeling project.'