TEHRAN – Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Jannati has said that the government is opposed to gender segregation at concerts.
He made the remarks during a meeting with the provincial managers of the Culture Ministry in Tehran on Sunday.
“Gender segregation is not in agreement with our religious teachings and it will result in the humiliation of the family,” Jannati stated.
Iranian police closed down a concert of pop singer Mohsen Yeganeh in Urmia, West Azerbaijan Province last week and announced that concerts in Iranian cities except Tehran would be held for males and females separately.
The decision sparked a storm of outrage by a number of singers, including Behnam Safavi, who announced they would never give a concert if gender segregation continues.
“The Police have been notified [by the government] that they must be in harmony with the government [policies] in cultural fields,” Jannati noted.
He asked the provincial managers of the Culture Ministry to report any discord.
Meanwhile, National Police Chief Esmaeil Ahmadi-Moqaddam denied the police had made a decision to enforce gender segregation at concerts.
He said that Yeganeh’s concert was shut down due the similarities between the stage decorations of his concert last year in the city to those in discos.
MMS/YAW
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