Hundreds of satellite dishes confiscated in northwest Iran

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Dec. 01 – Iran’s para-military police, the State Security Forces (SSF), confiscated several hundred satellite dishes in the north-western city of Tabriz, state dailies reported on Thursday. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Dec. 01 – Iran’s para-military police, the State Security Forces (SSF), confiscated several hundred satellite dishes in the north-western city of Tabriz, state dailies reported on Thursday.

According to the reports which quoted the police chief in the city, 580 satellite dish kits were seized during a search of five vehicles.

The Islamic Republic banned satellite dishes in 1995 under the pretext of being “too Western”. The crackdown on satellite dishes was prompted by broadcasts from Iranian opposition groups whose television programs are reported to have a large audience in Iran.

Colonel Ayoub Haghighi said that more than 5,000 bottles of alcoholic beverages had also been discovered in the search.

Alcohol is banned in Islamic Iran. Anyone caught drinking liqueur in public receives a fine or is sentenced to flogging in public and imprisonment.