By Nadia Wynter
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Wednesday, April 28th 2010, 1:30 PM


Click to view image: '8a481f8d8e7c-tanning.jpg'
Women in Iran better stock up on SPF 100. A suntan might land them in jail.

Tehran's police chief, Brig Hossien Sajedinia, according to London's Telegraph newspaper, has announced a national crackdown on "social misbehavior" that violates Islamic laws, including a sun-kissed glow.

"The public expects us to act firmly and swiftly if we see any social misbehavior by women, and men, who defy our Islamic values," he said, the Telegraph reported. "In some areas of north Tehran we can see many suntanned women and young girls who look like walking mannequins."

"We are not going to tolerate this situation and will first warn those found in this manner and then arrest and imprison them."

The threat to toss women who spend too much time in the sun in jail is the latest push of a recently launched scaremongering campaign to rid the streets of Tehran of vice, the Telegraph reported. National law says women must wear headscarves and shape shrouding cloaks, but many women in Tehran are fashionistas and barely follow the law.

In explaining why suntanned, stylish women were so bad for his nation, Ayatollah Kazim Sadighi, a leading cleric, said ladies who dressed inappropriately disturbed young men, and the resulting excitement caused earthquakes.

Ayatollah Aziz Khoshvaqt, another preacher, also says Iran will reap catastrophe if the laws are flouted, the Telegraph reported.

"Go on the streets and repent for your sins," he told worshipers in northern Tehran, according to the Telegraph. "A holy torment is upon us. Leave town."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/04/28/2010-04-28_tehran_police_chief_iran_to_crack_down_on_suntanned_women.html#ixzz0mVsSCqhj