Tehran mayor to keep job despite attending girls dance event

Muhammad Ali Najafi insists his March resignation, after pressure from Iranian hardliners, was due to illness; council refuses to let him step down

The mayor of Iran’s capital Tehran will be allowed to keep his post despite hardliners criticizing him for attending a ceremony in which primary school girls danced, Iranian media reported Sunday.

Muhammad Ali Najafi submitted his resignation to Tehran’s City Council last month, a week after prosecutors summoned him for attending the ceremony in which a group of underage girls danced in a ceremony held to commemorate International Women’s Day.

But the council rejected his resignation on Sunday with only four representatives supporting it and 16 voting against, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Council head Mohsen Hashemi Rafsanjani, without elaboration, said last month that Najafi resigned due to illness. Najafi was quoted by IRNA as insisting his resignation was due to his health condition and not “political disagreements.”

Hardliners used the case to increase pressure on the US-educated 65-year-old technocrat who came into office in August promising to fight corruption.

Official reports say the municipality had some $10 billion in debt, including $1 billion to contractors, when Najafi took office.

Najafi had taken over from Muhammad Bagher Qalibaf, a conservative politician who briefly ran as a candidate against Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in May before dropping out.

Muhammad Reza Aref, a reformist parliament member and former vice president under President Khatami, asked the city council to review Najafi’s resignation and change his decision.

Reformists believe that pressure has been placed on Najafi following his claims of fraud in Tehran’s municipal government during Qalibaf’s time as mayor.

Parliament member Parvaneh Mafi was quoted by the Hamshahri daily as saying Najafi’s “efforts to combat corruption … may have led to pressures on him and affected his resignation.”