Swedes convict Italian for hair pulling

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- An Italian tourist was convicted in Sweden for pulling his son's hair when he refused to go into Stockholm restaurant, officials said.

Giovanni Colasante, 46, a local politician form Canosa di Puglia in southern Italy was fined $990 for violating Sweden's laws against corporal punishment, the Swedish news agency TT reported.

Colasante was arrested on Aug. 23 after patrons at a restaurant in the historic Gamla Stan district called police. A witnesses told the Aftonbladet newspaper the man lifted his son up by the hair.

Sweden, which banned corporal punishment in 1979, has been criticized in Italian media over the case, TT said. Italy bans corporal punishment in school, but not in the home.