Iran’s capital city has banned citizens from walking their dogs, as part of a long-running nationwide campaign against dog ownership.
“We have received permission from the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office and will take measures against people walking dogs in public spaces, such as parks,” Rahimi said.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
These measures “could include confiscation and fines”, reports The Daily Telegraph.
Rahimi told Iran’s state-run news agency Young Journalists Club that the ban was being introduced in response to dogs “creating fear and anxiety” among members of the public.
Dog ownership has been a contentious issue in the Middle Eastern nation since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, reports the BBC.
In recent decades, the authorities have carried out “periodic crackdowns” on people who keep them as pets, according to Time. “Police have confiscated dogs from their owners right off the street; and state media has lectured Iranians on the diseases spread by canines,” the magazine reports.
In 2010, Reuters reported that a senior Iranian cleric had issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, that dogs were “unclean” and not to be kept as pets.
“Friendship with dogs is a blind imitation of the West,” Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi was quoted as saying by Iranian media. “There are lots of people in the West who love their dogs more than their wives and children.”
Yet despite such crackdowns, “especially among Tehran’s middle class, dog lovers persist”, says CNN.
-
‘Notes on Being a Man’ by Scott Galloway and ‘Bread of Angels: A Memoir’ by Patti Smithfeature A self-help guide for lonely young men and a new memoir from the godmother of punk
-
Why is crypto crashing?Today's Big Question The sector has lost $1 trillion in value in a few weeks
-
Memo signals Trump review of 233k refugeesSpeed Read The memo also ordered all green card applications for the refugees to be halted
-
Americans traveling abroad face renewed criticism in the Trump eraThe Explainer Some of Trump’s behavior has Americans being questioned
-
Why these Iraqi elections are so importantThe Explainer The US and Israel are increasingly pressuring Baghdad to tackle Iran-backed militants, while weakened Iran sees Iraq as a vital remaining ally
-
Nigeria confused by Trump invasion threatSpeed Read Trump has claimed the country is persecuting Christians
-
Sanae Takaichi: Japan’s Iron Lady set to be the country’s first woman prime ministerIn the Spotlight Takaichi is a member of Japan’s conservative, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of TaiwanIn the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
-
Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdownIN THE SPOTLIGHT A series of stings disrupts major cybercrime operations as law enforcement estimates millions in losses from schemes designed to prey on lonely users
-
'Axis of upheaval': will China summit cement new world order?Today's Big Question Xi calls on anti-US alliance to cooperate in new China-led global system – but fault lines remain
-
China is silently expanding its influence in American citiesUnder the Radar New York City and San Francisco, among others, have reportedly been targeted
