June 20, 2013

Iran arrests 5 musicians over dissident contacts

BY: AP Staff Writer JANUARY 9, 2013 | MODIFIED: JANUARY 9, 2013 AT 4:47 PM
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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian police have arrested five members of an underground band suspected of producing music for Farsi-speaking, dissident satellite channels based in the U.S.

The semiofficial Fars news agency quotes senior police official Col. Sadeq Rezadoost as saying the band was producing songs for Los Angeles-based Iranian singers and providing videos to Farsi-speaking, dissident TV channels.

The Wednesday report says the five have been handed over to the judiciary for trial. It did not name the band.

Women-only groups are banned in Iran, and Western music is rejected as "decadent." Many Iranians turn to underground bands to get bootleg videos of foreign-based singers.

Contact with foreign-based dissident media outfits is also banned in Iran.

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