Iranian Councilor Barred For Being Too Pretty and Sexy For Office

Hassan Rowhani, duly elected president of Iran, promised change in his country, especially for women.  One of his campaign promises was:

“Discrimination against women will not be tolerated.”

He also said in a campaign debate:

“I will form a women’s affairs ministry to return their trampled rights to them.”

But good luck trying to find one female member of his cabinet.

And the government of this so-called champion of women's rights has barred Nina Siakhali Moradi, city councilor for the city of Qazvin, from taking office because she's too pretty and  "too sexy."  Even though Moradi was fairly elected, the religious hardliners overturned it.

Even with more than 10,000 votes in the June election, putting her 14th out of 163 candidates and winning her a council seat, the 27-year-old engineer and website designer had her political career cut short because she was deemed too attractive to take up the post.

“We don’t want a catwalk model on the council,” a senior official in Qazvin told local press.

Moradi ran under the slogan “Young ideas for a young future,” pushing for better women’s rights in Qazvin, the restoration of the old city and greater youth involvement in town planning. She had been vetted and approved as a candidate by Iran’s judiciary and intelligence services. Her liberal views appeared popular with the electorate, The Times reported.

And  even though she adhered to strict Islamic dress code (full hijab with no hair showing) in her campaign posters, the conservatives complained to the governor calling them  “vulgar and anti-religious,” and anti-Islamic.

Others took umbrage with the fact that her headquarters

... became a gathering place for local young people, whose behavior and clothing provoked criticism from her opponents, mostly older conservative men.

The complaint was challenged but ultimately upheld. She was disqualified for not “observing the Islamic norms.”

She wasn't the only female candidate targeted. Maryam Nakhostin-Ahmadi and Shahla Atefeh both were detained and questioned and had their campaign posters removed.

Illiterate Pakistani Housewife Runs For Parliament- First Woman Ever

Badam Zari

53-year-old Badam Zari (the one in the colorful Islamic garb) is illiterate, even though her husband happens to be a teacher. Although that's not particularly surprising- considering she lives in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), a hotbed of Islamic militancy and home to the Taliban, al-Qaeda and other lovelies- what is surprising is that she's running for office. Yes, the brave housewife will be the first female ever to be approved to run for the upcoming parliamentary elections, even though everyone knows she won't win. She, however, is apparently hopeful.

“I am contesting the election with passion, with a clean heart and a clear conscience. My passion is to educate the future generation, girls and women, and to serve them,” she told AFP in a telephone interview from Bajaur district.

“I know I am the first woman to contest and I am hopeful that I will win.”

Bajaur is one of seven districts that make up Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The semi-autonomous region of mountains, valleys and caves is one of the most deprived, impoverished and ill-educated in the country.

It has been a stronghold for Afghan Taliban, Al-Qaeda and other Pakistani militant groups, and for years a battleground between the army and insurgents.

Thanks to reforms introduced by the outgoing government in a bid to lessen the grip of militancy, political parties can now contest elections for the first time in FATA.

But 53-year-old Zari, who comes from Arang, is standing as an independent.

She says she has nothing to fear but acknowledges she will not be able to campaign in public. Instead, she will stay in purdah -- either in her quarters or in the quarters of other women who are not allowed to gather in public.

“I have no fear, I have never been threatened by anyone,” she said.

I'm glad she has no fear, but a female running for office, bucking for education for women?  Has she forgotten about schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai? That's right, she can't read. And so she obviously hasn't heard about the Taliban threatening those who contest the elections, including voters. Democracy is un-Islamic, after all.

Poor woman, we'll see how long she lasts before she's the next Taliban target.