IRANIAN POLITICIAN BARRED FROM OFFICE FOR BEING TOO PRETTY

Iranian politician Nina Siakhali Moradi gave hopes to the promise of more civil rights for the country’s women when she won her bid earlier in the year. But now she’s had her election overturned by religious conservatives, who have basically barred her from office for being pretty.  “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.”

Still, Iran’s judiciary and intelligence services had originally granted approval (as is the system) to Moradi’s 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 Moradi’s “vulgar and anti-religious posters,” the Times reported, adding that the reason given for her disqualification was that she wasn’t “observing the Islamic norms.”