Iran's top cleric orders stadium ban on women kept

TEHRAN, May 8 (Reuters) Iran's supreme leader has vetoed a decision by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to allow women into sports stadiums, a government official said today, after the move caused a furore in the clerical establishment.

It marked the first time Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final word on matters of state in Iran's system of clerical rule, has openly challenged government policy since Ahmadinejad's inauguration last August.

''Iran's Supreme Leader has instructed the government to consider the religious leaders' views and reverse its decision (on letting women into stadiums),'' government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham told a news conference.

''The government will act based on this instruction,'' he said.

Several high-ranking clerics had criticised Ahmadinejad's announcement last month that women would be permitted to watch men compete in sports stadiums for the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The president's move had surprised many given his traditional religious background and pledge to restore revolutionary values.

Among those who criticised his decision was Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi, a staunch proponent of strict Islamic codes who some analysts see as a mentor of the president.

''The president is a valuable and respected servant of the people, but I think he committed an error,'' Mesbah-Yazdi was quoted as saying by the students news agency ISNA last month.

Ahmadinejad had said that the best seats in sports stadiums should be allocated to women and families and argued that their presence in public places ''promotes chastity''.

Initially after the revolution, women were prevented from entering sports stadiums because sportsmen were wearing shorts.

More recently officials have said women were barred because it was inappropriate for them to be in crowds where strong language or bad behaviour was expected.

Ahmadinejad has been more moderate than many expected on some social issues, and has said that Islamic dress codes should not be imposed by force.

Political analysts said the softer line was probably an effort to avoid alienating any section of the population when the country is under mounting international pressure over its nuclear programme.

Such moves were particularly welcomed by the wealthier, urban classes, where Islamic dress codes are often flouted and which are outside Ahmadinejad's core support base.

His main supporters come from the poor and more religiously conservative classes.

REUTERS DKS KP1937