Iranian women have been barred from standing in next year's presidential election after a powerful conservative body stood by its literal interpretation of a single but ambiguous word in the constitution.
The Guardians Council stipulated that the word 'rejal' means "man", a significant interpretation given that under the constitution the president of the Islamic republic "must be elected from the religious and political 'rejal'"
"Up until now the Guardians Council's interpretation of the word is its literal meaning, that is male gender," a spokesman for the council, Gholamhossein Elham, was quoted as saying.
"Those who devised the constitution (shortly after the Islamic Revolution in 1979) also discussed this issue and they were mostly concerned with the gender," he added.
The disputed word, which comes from Arabic, could also be interpreted as meaning "personalities" in Persian and this is the translation used in some English translations of the constitution.
Elham added that Iran's Persian Language Academy was "welcome" to interpret the word, but he did not say whether the Guardians Council would implement their interpretation.
Hasan Habibi, first vice President under former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and the incumbent Mohammad Khatami, currently heads the academy. He was one of the lawmakers who drew up the Islamic Republic's constitution
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