Selection of Iran’s leader to remain a men-only domain

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Dec. 19 – A powerful cleric rejected the notion of women taking up posts in the assembly of theologians who choose the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic.
Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Dec. 19 – A powerful cleric rejected the notion of women taking up posts in the assembly of theologians who choose the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic.

Speaking in the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, Abdol-Nabi Namazi, a senior Shiite cleric and a member of the Assembly of Experts, said, “According to Islamic law, the presence of women in institutions such as the Assembly of Experts is not necessary, even if they were religious scholars”.

The Assembly of Experts, an exclusively clerical body, designates the country’s all-powerful Supreme Leader.

Namazi said that under Islamic law women had to stay at home to raise children as a priority to all other work.

“The most important reason for the prevalence of moral corruption in society is the weak role played by mothers in families”, Namazi said. “If we give other jobs to women, that will weaken the families”.