Iran: sound

Two million people in Iran work over 44 hours a week.
This said Alireza Mahjoub, secretary general of Workers House in Tehran.
According to him , the eight-hour day rule has officially been recognized in the country in 1923.But at present, working hours of over two mln laborers are unregulated and they are working more than eight hours a day and 44 hours a week.
Mahjoub, who is also a Majlis deputy, criticised the Ministry of Labor that has failed to control the performance of employers in this regard.
Turning to May Day rallies, Mahjoub stated that the Interior Ministry has agreed only with a gathering and not a demonstration. He added that the place of gathering has not yet been determined.


This year for the first time, criticism came about the way the yearly crackdown on women who do not strictly observe rules on Islamic dress is done.
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi warned police against heavy-handed actions with women found to have broken the country's dress code.
In the newspaper Etemad Melli he said that hauling women and young people to the police station will have no use except to cause damage to society.Tough measures on social problems will backfire and have counter-productive effects.
He said that Of course, we need to act against organised crime and thugs but when there is no necessity to take someone to a police station, there is no need to do it.
This year the crackdown is more rigid then previous years.




Authorities in Iran have reportedly detained at least six members of underground music bands during the past week and shut down their studios.
At least two detainees taken into custody on April 19 have been freed on bail after pledging not to distribute illegal compact discs of underground music.
Western music is widely banned in Iran and censors watch the art-scene closely.
Many Iranian bands have developed their own undergroudstyles of rock, rap, hiphop, r&b and other forbidden western music.
Photo rferl.org



More than 2,000 university students are protesting in Shiraz against the tightening of rules on student's behavior and dress. There is a ban on shorts and tank tops for boys in the dormitories and the curfewrules are limited. One of the students told Radio Farda that under the new rules dormitory guards have the right to enter the dormitories whenever they want and violate the privacy of students.
ISNA reported that the dean of the university said that the protest is the result of a "misunderstanding." He said the rules are not new, but have only been announced to the students recently.
Photo ISNA


In Iran there are childoffenders, still on death row.

Children are being hanged to death.
A child will be hanged to death.
Poster amnesty.nl