Councillor barred for being 'too sexy'

An Iranian city councillor has been barred from office for being "too sexy", according to The Times in London.

New President Hassan Rowhani had promised sweeping civil rights reforms, but those changes didn't come soon enough for Nina Siakhali Moradi who was stopped from taking up her post on the Qazvin city council because her election was overturned by conservatives in Qazvin, the ancient capital of the Persian Empire, north west of Tehran.

The Times reports that the 27-year-old polled more than 10,000 votes in the June election, finishing 14th out of 163 candidates and winning a council seat. However Ms Moradi's candidacy was vetoed by Iran's judiciary and intelligence services and the result overturned.

The engineer and website designer campaigned for women's rights, restoration of the old city and greater youth involvement in town planning, The Time says.

But a Qazvin official said: "We don't want a catwalk model on the council."

Ms Moradi made no play of her looks during the race. Her campaign posters showed her dressed in strict hijab without a strand of hair on display. They were still too racy for Qazvin's religious groups. The moment that her election was confirmed, conservatives launched protests demanding her disqualification, according to The Times.

She was ultimately disqualified for not "observing Islamic norms".