Iran arrests 12 accused of promoting satanism

Your support helps us to tell the story

Support Now

Find out moreClose

As your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.

Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn't have the resources to challenge those in power.

Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November election

Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Twelve people accused of promoting satanism have been arrested in northwest Iran, a newspaper reported today.

"A number of people in the city of Orumiyeh who engaged in the promotion of satanism through underground music and the production of blasphemous video clips were arrested," the daily Resalat quoted senior police official Kheibar Tiba as saying.

The socially conservative Islamic Republic said last year it would crack down on "indecent Western-inspired movements" such as rappers and satanists.

That move signalled a widening of a clampdown on "immoral" conduct launched in 2007 against women flouting rules dictating that they cover their heads and disguise the shape of their bodies in public, in line with Iran's Islamic system.

In May, security forces arrested 104 "devil worshippers" and seized drugs and alcohol during a party in a southern city. Alcohol and narcotics are illegal in Iran.