Iran’s president bans Western music

GEORGE Michael, Eric Clapton and Kenny G will no longer be heard on Iranian airwaves after hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued a decree banning Western music from the country’s radio and TV stations.

Mr Ahmadinejad, as head of Iran’s Supreme Cultural Revolutionary Council, ordered the enacting of an October ruling by the council for Western songs to be banned.

Songs such as George Michael’s Careless Whisper, Eric Clapton’s Rush and Hotel California by the

Eagles regularly accompany Iranian TV programmes, as do tunes by saxophonist Kenny G.

Following eight years of reformist-led rule in Iran, Mr Ahmadinejad won office in August on a platform of reverting to ultraconservative principals promoted by Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Since then, he has jettisoned Iran’s moderation in foreign policy and pursued a purge in the government, replacing pragmatic veterans with former military commanders and inexperienced religious hardliners.

He has also called for Israel to be “wiped off the map” and described the Nazi Holocaust as a “myth.”

Western music, films and clothing are widely available in Iran, and hip-hop tunes can be heard on Tehran’s streets, blaring from cars or from music shops.

The latest media ban also includes censorship of content of films. The council has also issued a ban on foreign films that promote “arrogant powers”, an apparent reference to the US.