Women’s sports are a product of the West’s “dirty” culture

A senior cleric has denounced the participation of Iranian women in the Asian Games, calling it a humiliation and saying women’s sports are a product of the West’s “dirty” culture that should be shunned.

As he has done in the past, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took the opposite view — one shared by most Iranians — and praised female athletes from Iran who won medals in the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, which took place in November.

Iran’s strict laws forbid physical contact between unrelated men and women, and Iranian women are even barred from attending soccer games in which men’s teams are playing. (more…)

Iran Airs Stoning Woman’s New Confession

Friday’s broadcast was the fourth time Sakineh Mohammedi Ashtiani has been shown on TV as Tehran has faced an international outcry over the announcement that she would be stoned to death, the latest source of friction between Iran and the West.

Authorities announced her conviction in the murder case only after the uproar over the stoning sentence erupted last summer, and her lawyer — who has since been arrested — said she was never formally put on trial for the killing and was tortured into confessing. Iranian authorities could use the murder charge to justify executing Ashtiani by hanging instead of stoning. (more…)