Iran expands dog walking ban

Iranian officials person expanded a prohibition connected canine walking to a swathe of cities crossed the country, citing nationalist bid and wellness and information concerns.

The prohibition - which mirrors a 2019 constabulary bid that barred canine walking successful the capital, Tehran - has been extended to astatine slightest 18 different cities successful the past week. Transporting dogs successful vehicles has besides been outlawed.

Dog ownership has been frowned upon successful Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, with dogs viewed arsenic "unclean" by authorities and a bequest of Western taste influence.

But contempt efforts to discourage it, canine ownership is rising, peculiarly among young people, and it is viewed arsenic a signifier of rebellion against the restrictive Iranian regime.

Cities including Isfahan and Kerman person introduced bans successful caller days, according to quality bureau AFP.

An authoritative from the occidental metropolis of Ilam, wherever a prohibition was implemented connected Sunday, said "legal action" would beryllium taken against radical who violated the caller rules, according to section media.

However, enforcing restrictions successful the past has been patchy, portion galore canine owners proceed to locomotion their dogs successful nationalist successful Tehran and different parts of Iran.

There is nary nationalist instrumentality that outright bans canine ownership, but prosecutors often contented section restrictions that are enforced by police.

"Dog walking is simply a menace to nationalist health, bid and comfort," Abbas Najafi, authoritative of the occidental metropolis of Hamedan, told authorities paper Iran.

Owners person sometimes been arrested and dogs confiscated for being walked successful public.

Many person taken to walking their dogs successful secluded areas astatine nighttime oregon driving them astir to evade detection.

Politicians successful the Islamic authorities respect favored ownership arsenic un-Islamic. Many spiritual scholars presumption petting dogs oregon coming into interaction with their saliva arsenic "najis" oregon ritually impure.

Iran's ultimate person Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has antecedently described canine ownership - different than for the purposes of herding, hunting and information - arsenic "reprehensible".

In 2021, 75 lawmakers condemned canine ownership arsenic a "destructive societal problem" that could "gradually alteration the Iranian and Islamic mode of life".

Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance banned advertisements for pets oregon pet-related products successful 2010 - and successful 2014 determination was a thrust successful parliament to good and adjacent flog dog-walkers, though the measure did not pass.

Following the caller crackdown, critics reason the constabulary should absorption connected nationalist information astatine a clip of increasing interest implicit convulsive crime, alternatively than targeting canine owners and restricting idiosyncratic freedoms.

Dog ownership, defying Iran's mandatory hijab laws, attending underground parties and drinking intoxicant person agelong been forms of quiescent rebellion against Iran's theocratic regime.