CONVICTED DANCER PLANS LIFE IN IRAN

 TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - An Iranian-American dancer who is barred from leaving Iran for 10 years or giving dance classes ever again wants to live there for the rest of his life, his lawyer said Sunday.

Mohammad Khordadian could leave if he wanted to because his appeal has yet to be heard, lawyer Abdolrahman Rasouli told The Associated Press, but he wants to clear his name and will only return to the United States briefly after that.

"He will leave for Los Angeles after the court clears his name only to sell his properties and return to Iran," Rasouli said. "He wants to stay here for the rest of his life,"

Rasouli said the appeal was submitted to the court 10 days ago. It was not immediately clear when the appeal will be heard.

An Iranian court sentenced Khordadian to a suspended 10-year jail term and banned him from leaving Iran for 10 years after ruling that his Los Angeles-based classes and videos were a corrupting influence on Iran's youth.

Khordadian was also barred from giving dancing lessons for life, and from attending public celebrations or his relatives' weddings for three years.

Rasouli said he is optimistic that the appeals court will acquit Khordadian, who was not available for comment.

Khordadian, 46, was a taxi driver in Tehran before he left the country in 1980. After becoming a dancer in the United States, he returned to Iran for the first time in 20 years this spring and was arrested in May.

He is best known for a belly dance called "Arabic Dance," in which he wears traditional clothes and performs with female dancers. Men and women dancing together in public is not permitted under Iran's strict interpretation of proper Islamic behavior.

Khordadian's dance programs are widely watched by Iranian expatriates and many inside Iran via satellite. Los Angeles is home to a third of America's 277,000 Iranian immigrants.

Also Sunday, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported that an Iranian publisher has closed her newspaper after being threatened with jail for publishing articles about crackdowns on dissidents and a reformist publication.

The report said Mah-Jabin Abutorabi had closed the weekly, Aref, after Iranian officials objected to articles concerning the closure of a top reformist newspaper and a hard-line court's verdicts against liberal dissidents.

Sweeping social restrictions imposed after the 1979 Islamic revolution have gradually been eased since the election of reformist President Mohammad Khatami ( news - web sites) in May 1997. But women must still wear headscarves in public and the mingling of unrelated men and women is frowned upon by hard-liners.

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On the Net:

Khordadian's Web page: https://www.khordadian.com

Sun Aug 4,10:39 PM ET

By AFSHIN VALINEJAD, Associated Press Writer

Mohamad Khordadian, an Iranian-American dancer, seen here in costume in an undated handout photo, was arrested during his first visit to Iran in two decades and ordered in July to remain in Iran for 10 years as punishment for corrupting the nation's youth. Khordadian's lawyer Abdolrahman Rasouli told The Associated Press Sunday, Aug. 4, 2002 that his client wants to live in Iran for the rest of his life. (AP Photo/Javanan International Weekly Magazine, File)