<p>TEHRAN, Iran &mdash; Iranian police arrested 16 men and women at a mixed-gender party in the northeastern province of Khorasan Razavi, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday.</p>
<p>Such parties are illegal under Iranian law. Drinking alcohol in is also illegal and Muslim men and women who are not related cannot mingle or dance together in public.</p>
<p>The Tasnim report quotes a local prosecutor, Khalilollah Barzanuni, as saying that the 16 were detained while they were dancing at a party in a villa in Golbahar, a neighborhood in the city of Golmakan. </p>
<p>Barzanuni also said they drank alcohol and disrespected a Muslim commemoration during the holy month of Ramadan. Shiites in Iran on Tuesday marked the death of the first Shiite, Imam Ali, cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad.</p>