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A plainclothes policeman catches a woman during a police crackdown on prostitution in Quanzhou, Fujian province, October 29, 2011. China should remove criminal and administrative penalties against sex workers which often lead to serious police abuses, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on May 14, 2013. The abuses include torture, beatings, physical assaults, fines and arbitrary detentions of up to two years, as well as a failure to investigate crimes against sex workers by clients, bosses and state agents, according to the report. Prostitution is not permitted under Chinese law, although the industry has boomed since the country launched economic reforms in 1978. REUTERS/Stringer

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Iran hosts meeting on Syrian conflict

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DUBAI | Sun Nov 18, 2012 4:35pm EST

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran, the closest ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, hosted a conference in Tehran on Sunday to seek a resolution to the civil war in Syria.

Iranian officials said about 200 Syrian "political characters" had participated but there was no indication that the Syrian National Coalition, a new umbrella opposition group led by Sunni Muslim cleric Mouaz Alkhatib, had attended.

Iran has strongly supported Assad and has accused Western and Arab nations of fomenting violence in Syria by arming opposition groups. In turn, Syria's mostly Sunni Muslim rebels accuse Tehran of sending military personnel to Syria and of providing light arms, as well as tactical and communications expertise to Syrian government forces.

Addressing the conference, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said arming opposition groups with heavy weapons would put the region at risk of "organised terrorism".

"Iran has repeatedly emphasized that it wants a peaceful Syrian-Syrian solution for the current crisis without the interference of foreigners...The Syrians themselves know better what is best for them," Salehi said.

(Reporting by Zahra Hosseinian; Editing by Stephen Powell)
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Comments (1)
marisa70394 wrote:
Having Iran host a conference on peace is like asking the devil to host a conference on forgiveness. It is unfortunate that Iran’s reputation is such when there are so many good Iranian people. Iran can do this of course because they have Russia’s and China’s backing, and these two countries also are demonic when it comes to securing peace in the world.

Nov 18, 2012 7:08pm EST  --  Report as abuse
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