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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's official IRNA news agency is reporting the country's top arbitration body has restored a suspended Zoroastrian member of Yazd City Council to his position, saying all religious minorities are eligible to hold office.
IRNA reported Saturday the Expediency Council decision came in the case of Sepanta Niknaml who was suspended in October, purportedly over a complaint about fencing around the city's famed "Tower of Silence."
But the suspension followed a statement from Ahmad Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, that religious minorities should not have a representative in towns where the majority of the population was Muslim.
IRNA quoted Majid Ansari, a member of the Expediency Council, a higher authority, saying all Iranian religious minorities — Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians — are eligible to run in municipal elections.
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