Iran’s former president Mohammad Khatami on Thursday strongly denied breaking Islamic rules by shaking hands with women on a trip to Italy. Khatami’s conservative foes have voiced outrage over video footage circulating on the Internet which apparently shows the former president shaking hands with several women.
"Khatami officially denied that he had shook hands with any woman and the film circulating is not based on reality," said a statement from his office reported by the ISNA news agency and Ham Mihan newspaper. "This film circulating on some conservative websites which shows him shaking hand with some Italian women is a version that has been edited and Khatami wholly denies this."
According to the sharia (Islamic) law, it is forbidden for a man to have any physical contact with a woman to whom he is not related.
Meanwhile, Etemad newspaper said several ultra-conservatives staged a protest against Khatami in the holy northeastern city of Mashhad and handed over a complaint to a special clerical court demanding he be put on trial. The paper said the crowd, carrying placards like ‘Defrock Mohammad Khatami’ and ‘‘Death to the Clerics’ Foe’, successfully lodged their complaint and handed over copies of the film and other documents to the court.
