Iran’s press watchdog has banned a women’s monthly for “encouraging” cohabitation, known as “white marriage” in the Islamic republic.
Zanan-e Emruz (Today's Women) had reportedly published a special issue discussing various aspects of "white marriage" and the reasons behind it.
Iran’s Media Supervision Board on April 27 announced that the monthly would be referred to the country’s courts for “violating national and Islamic values” by promoting the practice, Iran’s semiofficial Mehr news agency reported.
Sex out of wedlock is a crime according to Islamic laws enforced in Iran.
Officials have in recent months expressed concern over cohabitation between couples.
Mohammad Golpayegani, the chief of staff of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, last year criticized cohabitating couples as “shameful.”