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Ahmadinejad draws flak

Tehran: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, who flaunts his ideological fervour, has been accused of undermining Iran's Islamic revolution after television footage appeared to show him watching a female song and dance show. The famously austere Mr. Ahmadinejad has been criticised by his own allies after attending the lavish opening ceremony of the Asian games in Qatar, a sporting competition involving 13,000 athletes from 39 countries. The ceremony featured Indian and Egyptian dancers and female vocalists. Many were not wearing veils. Women are forbidden to sing and dance before a male audience under Iran's Islamic legal code. Officials are expected to excuse themselves from such engagements when abroad but TV pictures showed Mr. Ahmadinejad sitting with President Bashar Assad of Syria and Ismail Haniya, the Palestinian Prime Minister, during last Friday's ceremony in Doha. Religious fundamentalists, usually Mr. Ahmadinejad's keenest supporters, are asking why he attended a ceremony that violated his own Government's strict interpretation of Shia Islam. —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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