The Tehran International Book Fair generated its share of controversy this year when certain prominent books, authors, and publishing houses were banned from the fair by the government (see the earlier MobyLives report).

Now, one prominent cleric has said that things would have gone better if clerics had been put in charge and could have better controlled what people in attendance were wearing.

“Unfortunately, we witnessed some who were not observing the proper Islamic dress code at the fair and that gave the place the appearance of turning it into a fashion salon,”  Mohammad-Taqi Rahbar, “Head of the Majlis cleric faction,” explains in this Mehr News Agency wire story. “Some clerics and ulema came to visit the fair from Qom, and left with broken hearts when they witnessed the lax observance of hijab.”

Thus, says the report, Rahbar “has proposed to culture minister Mohammad Hosseini” that running the fair “be entrusted to clerics for a year to help prevent breaches of hijab, the Islamic code of modest dress.”

“Even the publishers were not observing the Islamic dress code,” notes Rahbar.