Controversy engulfs multiple Iran's female lawmakers
It has only been three weeks since Iran held landmark parliamentary elections, yet several controversies involving elected female representatives have already arisen.
![IRAN PARLIAMENT Iranian MP's hold session in Iran's new parliament building in Tehran November 16, 2004. Iranian hardliners are angered over a deal Tehran has agreed with the European Union to suspend all activities related to its enrichment programme in a bid to allay international fears about its nuclear ambitions. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl CJF/THI - RTRFVC4](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2016/03/RTRFVC4.jpg/RTRFVC4.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=eJLsSOh0)
TEHRAN, Iran — It has only been three weeks since Iran held landmark parliamentary elections, yet several controversies have already arisen over remarks made by both an incoming female lawmaker and a veteran member of parliament. Meanwhile, the qualifications of two Reformist candidates, one of them a woman, have also been challenged.
The first controversy erupted when Parvaneh Salahshouri, a sociologist who successfully ran on the Reformist ticket in Tehran, denied remarks about the mandatory Islamic veil in Iran attributed to her by Viviana Mazza, a correspondent of the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera. In an interview with Mazza, Salahshouri had said, “It is our primary right to choose [whether to wear the Islamic veil] … the time will come [when women won’t have to wear it if they don’t want to]. … It is a hard process to have the right choice.” When asked whether it will one day be a choice for Iranian women to wear the Islamic veil, Salahshouri responded, “Of course, it is the process of development.”