March 25, 2022
Religious hardliners in Iran have slammed Azar Mansouri, the first woman elected to lead a political party, for keeping a dog at home and “trying to normalize living with dogs.”
The Reformist daily newspaper Sharq published a video February 15 – along with a feature article “One Day With Madam Secretary General” – in which Mansouri played affectionately with a dog.
Mansouri, who was elected secretary general of the Reformist Etehad-e Mellat (National Unity) Party in December, said her son and daughter-in-law had brought the pooch home, but had hidden the animal from her. Mansouri said she had at first been upset, but after a week refused to let them take the dog away “because it showed a lot of affection.”
Iran International noted that dogs are generally considered “impure” in Islam and are banned in public places by some majority-Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia.
The Majlis in November debated a bill making it illegal to sell or even to keep most animals as pets. The proposed pet ban would cover cats as well as dogs and exotic animals. The proponents claimed the ban was meant to protect public health.
Working dogs have always been common in Iran’s rural areas, but keeping them as pets has only recently become fashionable in urban areas—and is viewed by hardliners as an expression of opposition to the Islamic regime.
Iran International said the video was pounced on by hardliner rather than Reformist media. The Fars news agency said, “Reformists who claim it is the people’s right-to-know have chosen silence about Mansouri’s remarks.”
A few days later, a second video appeared on social media showing an elderly woman at prayer with a dog playfully jumping at her, tugging her veil, and playing on her prayer rug. Some sharing the video claimed it showed Mansouri promoting “living with dogs,” though it didn’t appear that the woman in the video was Mansouri.
One widely shared tweet critical of Mansouri quoted the Prophet Mohammad saying, “There is no blessing in a house where there are no children.” The tweet suggested that the “Reformist Azar Mansouri and the rest of her gang” were promoting dogs as an alternative to children. Another tweet claimed that an obsession with pets had contributed to “destruction of the foundation of families” in the West. This has been a popular theme with hardliners in recent years.
Ali Najmeddin, a rightwing political commentator, asserted that Reformists are trying to “normalize indecency” and “desensitize” Iranian society to other steps advocated in the West, such as ending the dress code and permitting adultery and homosexuality.
Iran International quoted Hossein Kermanpour, a physician in Tehran with Reformist leanings, who rose in defense of Mansouri by tweeting, “Those who have intentionally claimed you were the kind elderly mother a dog affectionately tries to play with while she is at prayer know that dogs do not destroy a human being’s connection with God. What distances humans from God is poverty, oppression, dishonor and injustice when they happen under Islamic rule.”