By Beth Greenfield, Shine Staff | Work + Money 4 hours ago http://shine.yahoo.com/work-money/iranian-politician-deemed-too-pretty-to-hold-office-181459345.html Iranian politician Nina Siakhali Moradi epitomized the promise of more civil rights for the countrys women when she won her bid as an alternate to the Qazvin City Council earlier this summer. But now shes had her election overturned by religious conservatives, who have basically barred her from office for being too hot. More on Yahoo! Shine: Hillary Clinton's New Haircut: What's the Buzz? We don't want a catwalk model on the council, balked an unnamed senior official in Qazvin, according to a report in the Times of London. But the official reason, as explained to the news agency IranWire by Seyed Reza Hossaini, Qazvins representative in Parliament and a review board member, was, Her votes have been nullified due to her disqualification, as the review board did not approve her credentials. We have told her the reason why she has been disqualified. More on Yahoo!: Study: Female Politicians Are Stereotyped, But Not as Women Still, Irans judiciary and intelligence services had originally granted approval (as is the system) to Moradis candidacy in Qazvin, the ancient capital of the Persian empire, about 100 miles from Tehran. The 27-year-old architecture grad student ran under the slogan Young ideas for a young future and was committed to fighting for improved rights for both women and youth. During her campaign, conservative groups complained about Moradis vulgar and anti-religious posters, the Times reported, adding that the reason given for her disqualification was that she wasnt observing the Islamic norms. Moradis run was most likely approved in the first place because they probably didnt think she had any chance, a spokesperson from the New York-based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran told Yahoo! Shine. Then, when she gained momentum because of her popularity with young adults, receiving 10,000 votes, the officials were taken off-guard, leaning on the vague Islamic code of dignity as a way to ban her from office. They dont like the fact that she doesnt belong to any political party, because they dont welcome an independent voice, the spokesperson (speaking on behalf of the campaigns executive director, Hadi Ghaemi) added. The story has gone viral, and theres been a lot of noise inside the country, and its likely that theyll reverse the decision due to public pressure and embarrassment. The campaign, a nonprofit organization that aims to amplify Iranian human-rights struggles on an international stage, has posted news of Moradis ouster on its Facebook page, eliciting an outcry from readers. Its because of their sick mentality that they have a problem with a beautiful creature of God, one commenter posted in Farsi (as translated for Yahoo! Shine by the campaign). Another mused that her displacement is definitely about her not using a chador, referring to the traditional head-to-toe black robe traditionally worn by women, while yet another fired off, These anti-beauty people just want everyone to be ugly and dirty, like themselves. A female politician chastised by opponents because of her looks? That sounds familiar. Hilary Clinton has been called everything from shrill to a b----; when she ran for president, nutcrackers were made with her likeness, and a rally heckler once yelled out, Iron my shirt! In Australia, former Prime Minister Julia Gillard was accused of being deliberately barren and therefore wooden by male colleagues. French housing minister Cécile Duflot was forced to ignore whistles and catcalls while speaking before the national assembly. In Iran, Moradi spoke out about the decision to unseat her, telling local media, Almost 10,000 people voted for me, and based on that I should be the first alternate member of the City Council, according to the Independent. Mohammed Olaiyehfard, a legal expert in Qazvin, told the Independent of London that the contradiction from officials was a problem. If someone breaks the law during the election, the review board and election committee can review the individuals actions. But when the results have been announced, they cannot nullify the results. For this reason, it is illegal for the election review board to disqualify someone who had initially been qualified to run and then later won the election. It seems that this is a pretext in order to create an obstacle in order for this individual to not be able to join the Qazvin City Council. The story is blowing up not long after Irans new president, Hassan Rowhani, pledged to fight for womens civil rights. Women work but dont enjoy equal rights, he had said in a pre-election debate. I will form a womens affairs ministry to return their trampled rights to them.
She did nothing wrong and didn't even get the chance to bungle up. I could see giving her the sack if she was incompetent or corrupt. They just canned her because she isn't an ugly, smelly old guy.
like the nazi rendition; shultz the answer was in the OP “We don't want a catwalk model on the council,” balked an unnamed senior official in Qazvin, according to a report in the Times of London. But the official reason, as explained to the news agency IranWire by Seyed Reza Hossaini, Qazvin’s representative in Parliament and a review board member, was, “Her votes have been nullified due to her disqualification, as the review board did not approve her credentials. We have told her the reason why she has been disqualified.” ie... who is closer to home; london reporter or iranian official? The only way that your OP title has any life, is you choose the reporters opinion versus the official reporting by iran. i suppose anything from iran is just against what you could possibly find true, since you perhaps think she is cute too and no iranian could approve of a good looking human being, as a representative, right? I think the iranian president is one of the most honest politicians that i have witnessed speaking. He has more balls than any politician that i have ever witnessed in any debate in america, and i live here in america. Does that bug you? Does that make me a bad person?