Image of Ahmadinejad consoling Chavez’s mother angers Iranian clerics

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is under fire from the country's clerics over a photo of him consoling the mother of Hugo Chavez at the late Venezuelan leader's funeral—physical contact that's considered a sin under Iran's strict Islamic codes.

The photo, released by Venezuela's Miraflores Press Office, shows Elena Frías' right hand clutching Ahmadinejad's left, her head against his, as they stand near the flag-draped coffin of her son at a military academy in Caracas, Venezuela, on Friday.

The image drew the immediate fury of Tehran's religious conservatives. “No unrelated women can be touched unless she is drowning at sea or needs medical treatment," Hojat al-Islam Hossein Ibrahimi, a cleric at the Society of Militant Clergy, said, according to Iran's Al-Monitor.

Showing compassion is not allowed in Islam

Not to these cavemen Bro.

.. touching... unless she was drowning at sea ... the woman was drowning  in tears ,

im not seeing any picture

Since this picture and story surfaced I checked all the Iran media that I am familiar with and nowwhere can I find where the clerics were upset with  Amadenijad . I suspect that this story was planted by the CIA  .
This picture humanises Amadenijad and show his compassionate side and it goes against everything the American are fed about what a demon he is

www.icana.ir/NewsPage.aspx?NewsID=221885

Hojat al-Islam Hossein Ibrahimi, member of Society of Militant Clergy of Tehran, said that “in relation to what is allowed (halal) and what is forbidden (haram) we know that no unrelated women can be touched unless she is drowning at sea or needs (medical) treatment.” He warned the Guardian Council, which vets potential candidates in Iran’s elections, to investigate a candidate’s religious understanding “because someone who doesn’t know religion will make what is allowed forbidden and what is forbidden allowed.” Some still question the Guardian Council’s decision to approve the then unknown Ahmadinejad’s candidacy for the president in 2005.

who cares if he consoles the woman

This is a blog wesite , and this story was nowhere in the mainstream Iranian outlets like the Tehran times or presstv