Crime rates in Iran rose sharply last year, paced by a 16 percent jump in murders, reported the Middle East Times, quoting a senior official at the interior ministry.
Gholamhossein Boulandian, deputy minister for security affairs said that murders rose 16 percent in 1999, compared with the year before.
"Kidnapping, a common crime along Iran's remote borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan, was up 5 percent, while armed robbery rose 3.2 percent," Boulandian said.
"The main reasons for the rise in crime include unemployment, inflation, migration to the cities and Iran's strategic position," he said.
Annual inflation in Iran stands officially at around 20 percent, while unemployment is at 16 percent, said the paper.
However, private economists say the actual figures are considerably higher.
"We are strengthening our security personnel, but other measures have to be coordinated with other sectors. This problem has to be addressed from economic, social and cultural angles," Boulandian said.
He said Iran was looking to import modern riot-control equipment and to adapt new methods of restraining crowds that were more in line with acknowledged principles of human rights - Albawaba.com
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
