Arrest of Dozens of Women and Men at 'Mixed' Party in Bandar Abbas

The state news agency IRNA reported the arrest of 39 women and 23 men at 'a mixed night party' in Bandar Abbas. The Director General of Security and Law Enforcement of Hormozgan Province defended this action, emphasizing the police's serious approach towards 'anti-moral networks and mafias.' This official also warned that the police 'will not allow the moral security of society to be endangered.' On Wednesday evening, June 2, IRNA quoted 'an informed source' from the police of Hormozgan Province, stating that 'last Friday night' [one week earlier], 62 women and men were arrested at 'a mixed night party' in Bandar Abbas by the moral security police and handed over to the judiciary. In this context, the Director General of Security and Law Enforcement of Hormozgan Province warned that the police 'regularly patrol homes, villas, and urban and rural areas' and will confront those who 'target the order and security of the people.' He added: 'Typically, these individuals engage in immoral activities such as drinking alcohol, and sexual and moral corruption in their gatherings, therefore law enforcement will be more active than before and will confront these individuals.' The defense of the Director General of Security and Law Enforcement of Hormozgan Province comes at a time when Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, previously criticized law enforcement actions regarding issues like hijab and social freedoms, emphasizing that 'culture cannot be cultivated with vans and soldiers.' Meanwhile, in recent months, Hassan Rouhani opposed the plan for 'invisible patrols,' but Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, on Sunday, May 9, asked police commanders to disregard 'the opposition of some individuals or media campaigns' and continue their work. The arrest of 62 individuals in Hormozgan Province comes amid recent backlash and criticism in Iran regarding the flogging sentence for 35 male and female students for participating in a 'mixed night party' in Qazvin. Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesperson for the judiciary, on Wednesday, June 2, deemed the flogging sentence 'legal' and stated that the judiciary has 'evidence and indications' showing that 'the parties held in several provinces were guided by a specific current.' In Iran, participating in certain mixed private parties can lead to arrests, and hundreds of reports on this issue have been published in the media over the past 35 years. For instance, Dadkhoda Salari, the prosecutor of Kerman, reported on Tuesday, June 4, the arrest of 23 participants in a party on charges of 'drinking alcohol' and 'mixed dancing with inappropriate attire.' In the last days of May, Nabiollah Moslemi, head of the Protection and Information Center of the Judiciary in Mazandaran Province, reported the arrest of more than 15 lawyers at a 'night party' in the city of Sorkhroud Mahmoudabad in this province.