After a long history of bans imposed on the population by religious officials, including a ban on smoking enforced during the late 19th century and the ban on drinking still in effect today, last week posters were put up in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz banning pool-playing.
Fun Loving Iranians
Parties and drugs in Tehran / Dudi Cohen
A. is a computer technician and a DJ living and working in Tehran; he tells Ynet that party goers in the Iranian capital are as fun loving as their western counterparts – drugs and alcohol are abundant
The posters cited a "fatwa," an Islamic religious decree, in favor of the new law. Residents of Tabriz, the central city of Azerbaijan province, reported that volunteers of the country's Revolutionary Guard hung the signs citing the Koran verses, which were signed by some of Iran's most prominent ayatollahs.
Poster carrying fatwa
On the signs, religious leaders warned citizens to beware of pool clubs and called on all mayors to "urgently close these brothels." According to their claims, the pool clubs have become centers of social corruption, i.e centers of Western culture.
It remains to be seen how Iranian youths will deal with the new and sudden ban. Iran
has dealt similar blows to its civilians in the past, including the aforementioned 'tobacco fatwa' of the late 19th century.
At the time, the Iranian population was infuriated at the tobacco farming rights given to Western companies by the government. However the law was implemented, and indeed an entire country stopped smoking.
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