TEHRAN: Iranian women deputies have decided to sue a conservative legislator after he said in a video that parliament was no place for “donkeys and women”.

Nader Ghazipour’s comments during an election campaign meeting last month have gone viral on social media.

“Parliament is not a place for foxes, donkeys and women,” he proclaimed before a cheering crowd in the video ahead of the Feb 26 polls.

If you elect women, “they (men colleagues) might do things to them and disgrace you”, he said.

Ghazipour was elected in Orumiyeh, a Turkish-speaking province near Iran’s border with Turkey.

Women MPs -- along with a number of men -- have filed complaints with Iran’s prosecutor general, parliament’s supervision committee and house speaker Ali Larijani, a leading woman deputy, Fatemeh Rahbar, said.

“There has been an accusation against women, and Mr Ghazipour must be held responsible,” she said.

Ghazipour had sent an apology through mediators, but the plaintiffs “won’t withdraw their lawsuit”, Rahbar said.

“His words have gone public through media and gone viral inside and outside Iran. He should come out” and explain himself. Ghazipour’s comments were “an insult not only to women but to the entire parliament”, Rahbar, herself a member of the conservative camp in Iranian politics, told the reformist daily Shargh.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2016