Iranian authorities are cracking down, but this time their target isn’t political dissidents or drug traffickers. It’s dogs.
Or rather, pets in general. This week, Ayatollah Nasser Makkarem Shirazi, a powerful cleric, issued a fatwa that was later passed into law banning any advertisements about pets or alluding to the buying, selling or keeping of pets, according to the Mehr news agency.
The fatwa was issued in response to a question by the country’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, which serves as Iran’s censor.
The ministry’s Advertisement and Information Dissemination Office vowed to crack down on ads promoting pet foods, especially for cats and dogs.
In June, Shirazi issued a fatwa against keeping dogs as pets, although that ruling was not made into law. At the time, Shirazi slammed dog owners for “blindly imitating the West,” which, he said, would result in “evil outcomes.”
“Many people in the West love their dogs more than their wives and children,” he said.
Hier gehts weiter.