Iran arrests Chinese man accused of posting images of Iranian women online

DUBAI - The Iranian authorities arrested a Chinese man for allegedly posting pictures of women he met in Iran on social media without their consent, a prosecutor in the central city of Kashan told local news agencies on Tuesday (June 1).

Police and intelligence forces detained the man, who has not been named, at a road toll booth in the city, prosecutor Ruhollah Dehqani told the semi-official ILNA news agency.

After he was accused by multiple posters of boasting on social media that it was easy to meet Iranian women, the man issued a videotaped apology on YouTube, saying he had deleted all the images.

Iran's Islamic laws ban contacts between unrelated men and women, and there have been frequent crackdowns on people who post images on social media that the authorities deem immoral.

China's Foreign Ministry, which has close relations with Iran, did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment.

Mr Dehqani said several people had filed complaints against the defendant, and that the case would be heard by a court specialising in cases linked to issues of morality, the semi-official YJC news agency reported.