Iran cracks down on public eaters during holy month

Iran Focus: a pro-MEK website

State Security Forces (SSF) in the western city of Hamedan have announced that they would crack down on people eating in public during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Flyers distributed across the city by the SSF and the Ministry of Justice state that anyone spotted to be eating food in public would be arrested and handed over for prosecution.

Residents told Iran Focus that they had been threatened by agents of the SSF that they would be forced to dig graves as punishment for eating in public. READ MORE

The punishment is meant to force those arrested to consider the prospect of death and the afterlife in order to refrain from breaching Islamic regulations.

The month of Ramadan, which started on Monday in Iran and will last until October, is the period during which all healthy Muslims are required to fast during daylight.

In previous years, people caught eating in public in Iran during the holy month have been flogged in public or sentenced to jail time.