Ministry of Culture: Police Will No Longer Intervene in Concert Cancellations

The Director General of the Music Office of the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance announced that the police will no longer intervene in the cancellation of music concerts. According to ILNA news agency, on Wednesday, May 2, quoting Farzad Talebi, the removal of police intervention in concert cancellations follows the amendment of the "Executive Regulations of Article 20 of Public Places." Article 20 had previously allowed police intervention in this matter, but after its amendment and approval by the Cabinet, the law no longer grants police special permission to hold or prevent concerts. Mr. Talebi also stated that from now on, the police will only be "responsible for responding to inquiries from the Ministry of Culture" and will "no longer directly intervene in the holding or cancellation of concerts." He noted that following the Ministry of Culture's inquiry to the police, the police must respond within a week, and if the response is negative, "their reason must not be non-traffic or non-lawful." The Director General of the Music Office added that "when a permit is issued by the provincial administration... it means this permit was issued after receiving an inquiry from the police, and based on this, the police can no longer prevent such events unless there is intervention from the prosecutor." Talebi described the repeated cancellations of music concerts in Khorasan Razavi as "strange behavior" and stated that "issues related to the prosecutor and Khorasan Razavi and their specific matters are considered a different issue." However, despite this official claiming that the police have not intervened in concert matters for the past six months, ILNA reported that the concert of Mohammad Motamedi, scheduled for May 7 in Birjand, was canceled by the police. While Motamedi told the news agency that his concert had "gone through all legal steps to obtain a permit," the Director General of the Music Office stated that due to the lack of follow-up by the concert organizing institution, no permit was issued for him. Meanwhile, Motamedi said that "no specific reason for the cancellation of this concert has been communicated to us, and they only said it is not advisable to hold this performance at the moment." Previously, after the Cabinet's decision that holding concerts does not require police inquiry, Saeed Montazerolmahdi, the spokesperson for the police, stated that there has been no change in the police's mission regarding concert organization, and the police's duties will remain as before. Majid Mirahmadi, head of the supervision and evaluation team of the Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters, also stated that despite the Cabinet's decision regarding holding concerts without police inquiry, the police will carry out their mission as before. In this context, a request to cancel a music concert in Bandar Abbas was made by several clerics. The Minister of Culture stated: "We do not allow local interference with music," while Ahmad Alamolhoda expressed his opposition to holding concerts throughout the country. The statements of the Friday prayer leader of Mashhad and the religious prohibition of music were discussed with Hassan Farshidian.