Iran's Hardliners Threaten Renewed War On Man's Best Friend
The Tehran municipality has grown increasingly critical of dogs, signaling that the authorities' snarls are a prelude to an impending crackdown on man's best friend.
The Tehran municipality has grown increasingly critical of dogs, signaling that the authorities' snarls are a prelude to an impending crackdown on man's best friend.
In a renewed campaign against dog ownership, Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani said this week, “Dog-walking in the city is very wrong and illegal, especially when done without rules and regulations. Legal authorities must intervene and change the culture in such a way that if someone wants to walk a dog, they do it by the rules.” Zakani's deputy, Hossein Nazari, described dog walking as one of "challenges" for the capital.
The religious regime views keeping dogs as a symbol of Westernization that can be dangerous and should be prohibited. Dogs are generally considered 'najis' or 'impure' in Islam and banned in public places by some majority-Muslim countries including Saudi Arabia. Iranian parliamentarians proposed a bill last year banning selling and keeping of pets, claiming that the ban was meant to protect public health. While working dogs have always been common in Iran’s rural areas and on farms, keeping pets has only recently become fashionable in urban areas despite occasional police crackdowns.
Several of the growing number of dog owners in the capital shared their grievances with Iran International, detailing their persistent conflict with authorities and religious individuals subscribing to the Islamic Republic’s rancorous views on dogs.
The owner of Snow, a black terrier mix, said she consistently faces objections from neighbors when walking her dog in the green areas of their apartment complex in northern Tehran. Non-dog-owning residents argue that dogs should be prohibited in common areas, citing concerns about their children playing there. She added that the situation escalates on the streets, highlighting instances where her friends received fines for having their dogs in cars outside designated boxes.
The issue extends beyond communal building areas, as experienced by Toffee's owner, who has an apricot toy poodle. Residing in a central Tehran neighborhood with a conservative social context, she faced persistent harassment from neighbors, ultimately prompting her to move. Her religious neighbors were intolerant of having a dog in the building, continually threatening to file a lawsuit for her eviction, she said.
In the absence of specific regulations regarding dogs, authorities employ alternative measures to exert pressure on dog owners, primarily through laws governing shared spaces within buildings. These regulations imply that owning and keeping animals, including dogs, in communal areas is prohibited. The Islamic Penal Code, particularly Article 688, reinforces this prohibition by penalizing actions deemed threatening to public health, citing potential health risks associated with the possession of dogs. Violations may result in legal consequences, as neighbors have the ability to file complaints against such practices.
The owner of Woody, a golden cocker spaniel, said she faces crippling stress whenever she tries to take Woody for walks, adding that the recent warnings from the authorities have made the situation even more stressful. “Dogs have no rights in Iran,” she lamented, referring to a lack of clear regulations on where dogs are permitted.
The absence of clear regulations also leads to other legal challenges, as seen in the case of Leo's owner, who lost her dog due to veterinarian malpractice. Recounting her experience, she said, "I attempted to seek legal action for my lost dog, but I was advised not to waste my time and energy as it would be futile." She pointed out, "Even human beings struggle to find justice in Iran, let alone the poor dogs."
Earlier in the year, a real estate agency was sealed off and its owner arrested after a video went viral of the property agency transferring the ownership of an apartment to a dog. The footage showed an Iranian couple signing a contract transferring the title of their apartment to their small furry white dog Chester. Iran’s police and Tehran’s deputy prosecutor Reza Tabar mentioned “issuing an invalid contract for an apartment unit” as the reason behind the arrest. Without elaborating on the legal grounds, Tabar said “this action is illegal and was meant to demean the norms of society.”
While officials such as the mayor of Tehran argue for the need to regulate dog ownership, implementing effective laws presents a significant quandary. Crafting regulations would inadvertently entail granting certain freedoms to dogs and their owners, such as allocating designated areas or parks for walks – a prospect that contradicts the state's ideological stance.
The proposed legislation, which was never followed up and labeled as a waste of parliament’s time, envisaged a monetary fine ranging from $900 to $2,700, along with the possibility of impounding the animal. Additionally, real estate agents would be required to prohibit dogs in rental agreements within three months of the law's enactment, with corresponding fines for non-compliance. Individuals walking their pets in the street could potentially face a three-month jail term, or if driving with their dog, the confiscation of their car for three months.
Previous attempts to address the issue involved police campaigns rounding up dogs and their owners, serving as more of an intimidation tactic than a systematic solution. One major impediment to enforcement is the lack of proper facilities to accommodate detained dogs. With no dedicated spaces to house them and a shortage of personnel to care for the animals, the authorities face a logistical dilemma in cracking down on dog owners.
The recurrent conflict surrounding dog ownership tends to resurface intermittently but often becomes overshadowed by popular protests on broader human rights issues or economic challenges. The government's persistent struggle to regulate dog ownership represents another intrusion into citizens' private lives, adding to a myriad of existing bans, including restrictions on alcohol consumption, dating, public appearances without "proper hijab" for women, mixed-gender parties, and singing by women.
United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operation reported the incident on Saturday, as attacks by Iran-backed Houthi forces have escalated against commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The location is hundreds of miles from the Iranian and Yemeni territories, and it is not known from where the drone was launched.
Later, the vessel was identified as the Liberian-flagged tanker as MV Chem Pluto carrying crude oil from Saudi Arabia.
Some Iranian one-way kamikaze drones, such as Shahed 136 used by Russia against Ukraine, have a range of at least 1,000 kilometers.
Meanwhile, an Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said the Mediterranean Sea could be closed if the United States and its allies continued to commit "crimes" in Gaza, Iranian media reported on Saturday, without explaining how that would happen. However, use of suicide drones launched from Syria, where Iran has a strong military presence, could endanger shipping in the Mediterranean Sea.
"They shall soon await the closure of the Mediterranean Sea, (the Strait of) Gibraltar and other waterways," Tasnim quoted Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, coordinating commander of the Guards, as saying.
Iranian-backed Houthis began launching suicide drones and missiles at commercial vessels in the Red Sea in mid-November following Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s call to block Israeli commerce.
The US last week announced a naval coalition involving 20 countries aimed at helping safeguard vessels from attacks in the Red Sea. However, it is not clear if the naval coalition is a defensive arrangement or will conduct retaliatory attacks to deter the Houthis.
In a report published earlier in the month by Nature, considered by many as the world’s leading journal of science, Iran ranked seventh in the list of the countries with the highest retraction rates with an average of 16.7 retractions per 10,000 papers.
Only Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Russia, China, Egypt and Malaysia had a higher retraction rate in comparison with Iran, the report said.
Nature’s report analyzes the academic productions of the countries with 100,000 papers published over the past two decades.
Published papers get retracted when it is discovered that they violate ethical and professional guidelines due to scientific misconduct or plagiarism.
In June, Iran’s parliament announced that as many as half of the postgraduate theses produced between 2019 and 2022 have been fraudulently written.
Nature’s report drew the attention of university professors and researchers in Iran who have long been critical of the establishment’s over-emphasis on publishing papers in national and international journals.
Iran International interviewed several university professors and researchers in Iran about the worsening condition of conducting research projects in the country. They spoke on condition of anonymity fearing the Islamic Republic’s crackdown on critics.
An assistant professor at the University of Mazandaran told Iran International that the field of research in Iran has turned into a very lucrative market where “products” can easily be bought and sold.
Unofficial advertisements about the sale of research papers, theses, dissertations and semester projects can be found in university campuses, she said, adding that over recent years, offices have been founded in Tehran and many other cities that offer to write research papers for students and teachers at an exorbitant price.
She blamed the political ambitions of the Islamic Republic for the creation of such a notorious “research market,” noting that Tehran officials have time and again stressed that Iran should rank first in the region in terms of academic productions.
As a result, the research “obligations” for university teachers, postgraduate students and researchers have been devised by the government’s officials in a conscious attempt to “force” academicians to write as many papers as possible regardless of their quality or their industrial and practical utility, she went on to say.
One university professor told Khabar Online in Tehran that Iranian research has failed to solve pressing problems facing the country. “What is the purpose of these featureless articles, which are occasionally accused of being counterfeit and also jeopardize the country's international scientific reputation," the professor said.
A PhD holder in French literature from the University of Tabriz, one of Iran’s leading academic institutions, told Iran International that the pressure on teachers and students in Iranian universities to write a large bulk of research papers in fact reflects the authoritarian structure of the political establishment where quantity precedes quality.
If a PhD student does not reach the research quotas they will not be allowed to defend their dissertation, the researcher said, adding that the pressure starts with the Ministry of Science, university professors having no other way but to follow the ministry’s guidelines in order to keep their teaching positions.
According to a PhD student of TEFL at the University of Beheshti, many postgraduate students in Iran have no “research agenda” for themselves as is the case with the world’s top universities.
We are expected to work like “paper-manufacturing machines” so that our supervisors can get promoted, she said. De-motivated and under pressure, there are many students who resort to plagiarism or assign somebody else to complete their research projects, she went on to say.
Research published last year in the Journal of Academic Ethics, concluded that "Iran lags behind other countries with regards to what is known about contract cheating and how to address it", citing major reform needed in policy and academia.