A group of tourists have been detained for “inappropriate” behaviour near the picturesque Shahyoun Lake in Dezful, Khuzestan province.
Mehdi Chenari, head of the city’s Cultural Heritage Department, announced the arrests on Friday, March 26. He told IRNA news agency that the “mixed” group had been observed “dancing and celebrating” in an “inappropriate way” close to the natural beauty spot.
The tour group, he added, had come to Shahyoun Lake from outside the province, without the necessary permission or coordination with tourism officials and law enforcement agencies. Their arrests were ordered by the Provincial Security Council.
Travel has been banned in Dezful during the Nowruz holiday as the area is on high alert for coronavirus transmission. Furthermore, Chenari said, tourism is different to “promiscuity” and the Tourism Office is opposed to gatherings of this nature in general.
Even before the pandemic, Iranian officials regularly arrested young people for taking part in mixed touristic excursions. Sebt Sheikh Al-Ansari, the director of the Dezful Seminary, also weighed in on the latest incident, describing it as "the presence of an illegal mixed tour group with inappropriate clothing and dancing at Shahyoun Lake".
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