AFP: Iran has shut down more than 200 eateries and warned 26,000 people for violating a ban on eating and offering food before sunset during Ramadan, Iran's deputy police chief was quoted as saying.
TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran has shut down more than 200 eateries and warned 26,000 people for violating a ban on eating and offering food before sunset during Ramadan, Iran's deputy police chief was quoted as saying.
"Since the beginning of Ramadan more than 26,000 who had eaten in public, or vendors selling food during the day, have received a warning in 27 provinces," Kargozaran newspaper quoted Hossein Zolfaghari as saying.
He added that "208 businesses have been shut down in this regard" during the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims are required to abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and having sex from dawn to dusk.
Iranian police issued a stern warning before the September 2 start of Ramadan to crack down on businesses selling food — with the exception of supermarkets and grocery stores — before the sunset breaking of the fast.
They also said people eating in public would be confronted.
For more than a year, Iranian police patrols have been ubiquitous on the streets to enforce a nationwide crackdown on appearance and behaviour deemed as immoral or un-Islamic.
