Bury the Peace Pipe and Dig it Up Again: Iran Between US Prohibitionism and National Sovereignty, Freedom, Dignity and Persian Art de Vivre

Iranis are sensible people. The ban was once again lifted:

“Iran has allowed water pipes to reappear in tea houses, whose owners complained a recent ban on health grounds was putting them out of business, press reports said on Tuesday.
“Tea houses with a business permit can offer water pipes to their customers," the interior ministry said in directive to police published in the Tehran Emrouz newspaper.”
(Tehran, AFP: Feb 26, 2008. Iran Reverses Ban on Water Pipes)

In a previous step, the Iranian Authorities actually buried a still living being on the occasion of the “No-Tobacco week”:

“The No-Tobacco Week Taskforce in a statement hailed the approval of Iran’s membership in the International Convention on Tobacco Control, stressing that the parliament should speed up the second reading of the Comprehensive Plan on Tobacco Control, said ISNA. No-Tobacco Week kicked off last Wednesday with its theme selected as “Health Experts Against Tobacco.“ During the week-long event, 25 information centres and medical clinics will render free counselling to the public in cultural houses. In a symbolic move, cigarettes and hookah were buried at the Salamat Cultural House.”
(“Free Counselling During No-Tobacco Week”, The Iran Daily Newspaper, May 29, 2005).

Note the place where the contraptions were buried : a cultural house ! This first ban was eventually lifted by July 2005.

NOW, WHAT YOU US AMERICANS CAN DO for human rights in Iran: Go to the Presidency of Iran’s official site and politely suggest that Iran withdraw as soon as possible from the WHO FCTC (World Health Organization /Framework Convention on Tobacco Control) which is actually the source of such pressures, a catastrophe for civil liberties and much more on an economic level for many countries.

RELEVANT READINGS: Syria, Iran and the Threat Posed by Hookah Smoking to the Free Civilized World

Image: The Iran Daily Newspaper (29 May 2005)

YOU ARE NOT ON THE HOME PAGE of the OBSERVATORY on HOOKAH and HEALTH (Narghile, "Waterpipe"™, Health, Risks, Dangers, Diseases, Tar, Nicotine, Cancer). CLICK HERE to go there !