Posted on 05/30/2002 2:17:01 AM PDT by knighthawk
Iran's most famous male dancer, who lives and performs in Los Angeles, has been jailed on charges of promoting corruption amongst youths during a visit to his home country, a relative said Wednesday.
Mohamad Khordadian's dance programs are widely watched by Iranian expatriates and many inside Iran on LA-based, Persian-language satellite television channels.
Khordadian, who arrived in the Islamic Republic’s capital earlier this month, was detained and charged by a Tehran court with promoting corruption among youths through his performances, said a relative who spoke on condition of anonymity, according to AP.
He added Khordadian was being held in Evin prison, north of Tehran, and was expected to be released within days. The relative provided no further details and it wasn't clear when, or if, a trial would be held.
Meanwhile, an Iranian artist, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the arrest was for forming dance classes for women in Iran during his visits to the country, rather than for broadcasts of his performances in the United States.
Court officials were not available for comment Wednesday.
Days before traveling to Iran, Khordadian said on his television program that he had a "big dream," said Abdolreza Nasseri, one of the dancer's fans inside Iran.
"Khordadian said his biggest dream was to visit all Iranian cities and perform dances with his group on the back of a huge open truck wearing the traditional clothes of every city he visits," Nasseri said.
When Israel jails a terrorists, the world is crying out because it's unjust. But when Iran jails a dancer who's crime it is to dance, everyone is silent!
TEHRAN, July 4 (AFP) - Prominent US-based Iranian dancer and entertainer Mohammad Khordadian, arrested in May in Tehran, has been tried on charges of "inciting and encouraging depravity among young people," judicial sources said Thursday.
Dressed in prison clothing and accompanied by two police officers, the popular dancer appeared before a Tehran tribunal this week charged with handling cases of alleged immorality, a judicial source said.
He was returned to northern Tehran's Evin prison after his trial, and the verdict is expected to be issued within 10 days, the source added.
During his trial, Khordadian rejected the charges, affirming that "dancing does not incite young people to moral corruption."
In a lengthy defence, he told the court that dancing is "a sport."
The judge however said videotapes of his performances clearly showed the validity of the charges, the Etemad paper reported earlier this week.
Khordadian was arrested at Tehran's international Mehrabad airport in early May ahead of a scheduled flight back to Los Angeles after making his first visit to Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The dancer, who has his own dance group and school in the United States, is extremely popular among Iranians both inside and outside the Islamic republic.
Illegal CD-Roms and video-cassettes of his performances are sold on the black market in Tehran and show the dancer performing with groups of women, non of whom observe the Islamic dress code which demands that women cover their hair and bodies in the presence of men.
Also under Islamic law, enforced in Iran since the 1979 revolution, men and women are not permitted to dance together.
His website also shows Khordadian lying on a dance floor surrounded by numerous women in provocative dresses.
Videos of his performances -- the possession, sale and purchase of which is banned -- are often shown and distributed at parties across Tehran, or presented as gifts.
Khordadian, who is in his 40s, studied art and drama in pre-revolutionary Iran and headed the Niavaran ballet company in Tehran before moving to London, and later the United States where he settled down.
His trial coincides with a new police campaign against "depravity", with raids on parties and checks on mixed couples in the street.
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