Harsh protests in Iran over women in football stadiums

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Tehran (dpa) - There have been harsh protests by leading Ayatollahs in Iran over the recent decision by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to allow women into football stadiums, Teheran sports media reported Wednesday.

Ahmadinejad had on Monday allowed Iranian women to attend football matches in the country's stadiums and ordered the country's sports head, Ali Abadi, to grant them the best possible seats.

Grand Ayatollah Safi Golpayegani said in a statement, carried by the news agency ISNA, that the presence of women in football stadiums was against Islamic laws and regulations and called on the president to revoke his decision "for removing worries (in the society)."

"From the Islamic standpoint, the look of a women at a man, even without any sense of pleasure, is not permissible," the Ayatollah said.

Women in Iran had so far been prohibited to watch football games inside the stadium, mainly due to the vulgar language and violent acts of football fans.

Another Grand Ayatollah, Fazel Lankarani, said that the presence of men and women at one venue would be contradictory to Islamic principles and warned that this could lead to "social immoralities as witnessed in the Western world."

Even Ayatollah Messbah Yazdi, front-runner of Islamists in Iran and supporter of the president, has already conveyed his harsh protest to Ahmadinejad.

Also the Iranian parliament, dominated by the ultra-conservative Abadgaran (Development) part of which also Ahmadinejad is a member, criticised the presidential order and called on its withdrawal.

Sports chief Ali Abadi has already announced his organization's readiness to allow women into stadiums for the next season of the Premier League, to be held after the World Cup in Germany.

Ali Abadi however stressed that only married women could avail themselves of the new regulation and single women would still be prohibited to come into stadiums.

It is still unclear how the marital status of women can be checked at the stadiums and whether they have to present their marriage certificates before entering.