Tehran Police Raid Local Dance Performance Venue

Farzaneh Kabli, the choreographer of local dances, was arrested last night during a performance of local dances for women at the Vahdat Hall, along with group members and several officials from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, by officials from the Prosecutor's Office for Dealing with Moral Crimes (known as the 'Ministers'). Today, they were temporarily released through the intervention of the Minister of Culture until Saturday. Judicial officials have instructed them to appear in court on Saturday to respond to their charges. According to the Women's Iran website, in the performance 'Amin Festival,' which was designed and directed by Farzaneh Kabli and had been staged exclusively for women since last Tuesday, Kabli's group performed local and traditional dances from Khorasan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Sistan and Baluchestan, and Kurdistan. However, on Wednesday evening, the Amin Festival was halted midway through the performance by a judicial order, and the group members, along with several officials from the Ministry of Culture, including Majid Sharif Khodai, head of the Performing Arts Center, Ali Ayneh-Saz, head of the Islamic Guidance Security, Ali Moradkhani, head of the Rudaki Foundation, Masoud Shahi, head of the Vahdat Hall security, and nearly twenty dancers, including Farzaneh Kabli, costume designer Zhila Mehrjouyi, presenter Giti Rouhani, and director Hadi Marzban, were taken to the prosecutor's office. Based on this report, Ahmad Masjed-Jamei, the Minister of Culture, has also been summoned to court due to the issuance of the performance's permit. It is noteworthy that this performance was held last year at the Fajr Festival with both male and female dancers, but the recent performance was exclusively for women. Those interested in viewing some photos of this performance can visit the following address: http://www.iranian.com/Salehi/2003/February/Dance/index.html