Iran clamps down on coffee shops

[democratic]

Source: Guardian

Four bookshops in Tehran this week closed their coffee shops after receiving a 72-hour ultimatum from Amaken-e Omoomi, a state body governing the retail trade. The order has led to the closure of the cafe in one of the city's best-known bookshops, Nashr-e Sales, which has hosted reading sessions by writers, including the Nobel prize-winning Turkish author, Orhan Pamuk, and become a popular meeting point for literary types.

Amaken justified the closures by declaring that the coffee shops constituted an illegal "mixing of trades". However, critics suspect the move is aimed at restricting the gathering of intellectuals and educated young people.

The reformist newspaper, Etemad-e Melli, pointed out that Ahl-e Ghalam, a bookstore linked to the culture and Islamic guidance ministry, had been allowed to keep its cafe. "When we pointed this out to the authorities, their argument was that just because other people make a mistake doesn't mean you have to repeat it," one bookshop owner told the Guardian."We are trying through our trade association to find a remedy."

The closure order comes amid an offensive against liberal trends by the Islamist government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which has included the banning of western books.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2198519,00.html

[Cha]

1. How long before

bushits close down our Librul coffee houses? Or have us on no-fly lists or listen in on our phone calls?

And I'm not saying this Iran regime is healthy..it fucking sux, too.

[msongs]

2. it is NOT an "iran" clamp down, it is an Islamic fundie clamp down nt

[ohio2007]

4. Coffee shops are actually internet cafe links to the outside

it's a clampdown on censorship

[closeupready]

3. Irony here is, during the Shah's time,the Ayatollah Khomeini lived in exile in France, and was known

to discuss fundamentalist politics with others at the liberal cafes in Paris (if I recall that anecdote correctly) where people were free to talk about anything.

edit - and of course, I got it wrong, he lived in Iraq for most of his period of exile, though he did spend a brief time apparently in France prior to returning to Iran. :D Well, anyway, this sucks. :)