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Kuwait And Iran Go After Prostitution Rings
KUWAIT CITY & TEHRAN (News Agencies) - A day after Tehran police shut down 29 brothels in well-heeled northern districts of the city, arresting more than 85 madams and pimps, Kuwaiti police on Friday busted at least nine organized rings involved in prostitution and trading sex slaves in a major crackdown against immorality.
The clampdown in Kuwait netted 102 prostitutes, pimps and clients on Wednesday alone, the majority of whom were Asians, the Kuwaiti Al-Watan reported, adding that many were caught "in the act".
Fifty of those arrested were young Asian women who were traded between the rings as sex slaves for between 100 and 500 dinars ($325 and $1,625) based on their color, beauty and age.
Prostitutes were charging 10 dinars ($33) a trick, half of which was paid to the rings, which police said were being run by Asians living in the subcontinent.
The crackdown coincided with a heated debate in parliament earlier in the week during which Islamist MPs warned that prostitution, drugs and other acts of immorality were on the rise. They urged the government to take decisive actions.
Last year, a group of MPs submitted a draft law imposing prison sentences and huge fines on people who commit "moral crimes pertaining to prostitution".
The draft includes a 7,000 dinar ($22,750) fine and a seven-year prison sentence for people knowingly renting accommodation for prostitution.
It also includes a 5,000 dinar ($16,250) fine and five-year prison term for the owners and managers of public places used for prostitution.
In Iran, the daily Jam-e-jam said those arrested Thursday, whose life style included luxury cars and mobile telephones, had been sentenced to jail terms, fines and whippings.
The report was unprecedented in Islamic Iran, where the existence of prostitution is officially unmentionable.
The official said that unidentified "foreigners" might be implicated, referring to police swoops on "depraved" New Year parties in which 313 people, including foreigners, were arrested.
Although all the foreigners have since been freed, according to judicial sources, the official said the Tehran judiciary would not shrink from prosecuting those involved.
"When we hear that these people have immunity or that some are diplomats, it is unacceptable," he said. "In the Islamic republic we have our own regulations and laws which must be applied."
The official said that the foreign ministry had been informed and could act in line with its legal duties, while investigations might reveal that participants at such "orgies" were spies.
"But so far the courts consider that they had no particular mission, that the offences committed were private and in no way affected relations between states," he added.
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