Iran jails official over illicit celebrity kiss

An official in Iran has been arrested on charges of letting an actress and the young actor she kissed in public walk away free, Iranian media reported yesterday.

Iran's strict Islamic laws ban socialising between unrelated men and women. Public kissing between men and women is considered taboo.

Mohammad Ali Pakdel, a cultural official in Yazd, was jailed on Tuesday on the order of the chief provincial judge for being an "accomplice" in the pair's departure from Yazd, the daily Etemad newspaper reported. Mr Pakdel denied the charge and said the order for the arrests was issued after the pair had left Yazd.

The order came after Gowhar Kheirandish, a high-profile actress, shook hands and kissed Ali Zamani on the cheek at a festival in Yazd. The incident provoked protests in Yazd and the judge's response prompted warnings that the affair would harm Iran's improving international image. Mohsen Talebpour, who represents Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, led protests to condemn the kiss.

Abolfazl Jalili, a film-maker, said Ms Kheirandish, in her 50s, was emotional and kissed Mr Zamani because the actor, in his 20s, was a student of her late husband, Jamshid Esmaeilkhani, an actor who died this year. "Zamani was like her son and there was definitely no other intention. Judicial action only harms Iran's improving international image," he said.(AP)