Iran police shuts down toy shops for selling Barbie dolls

PanARMENIAN.Net - Police have closed down dozens of toy shop for selling Barbie dolls, part of a decades-long crackdown on signs of Western culture in Iran, Mirror reported, citing the semi-official Mehr news agency.

Mehr quoted an unnamed police official as saying police confiscated Barbie dolls from toy shops in Tehran in a "new phase" of its crackdown against "manifestations of Western culture."

Barbie dolls are sold wearing swimsuits and miniskirts in a society where women must wear head scarves in public, and men and women are not allowed to swim together.

A ban on the sale of Barbie dolls, designed to look like young Western women, was imposed in the mid-1990s.

Authorities launched a campaign of confiscating Barbie dolls from toy shops in 2002, denouncing what they called the un-Islamic characteristics of the uniquely American doll. The campaign was eventually dropped.

In 2008, the Iranian judiciary warned against the "destructive" cultural and social consequences and "danger" of importing Barbie dolls and other Western toys.

Even so, Iranian markets have been full of Western toys aimed at Iranian children. One-third of Iran's population of 75 million are under 15 years old.