Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticized for hugging Hugo Chavez’s mother

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been heavily criticized over both real and fake photos showing him consoling the grieving family members of late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

During Hugo Chavez’s funeral in Caracas on Friday, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was photographed sympathizing with Elena Frias de Chavez, 78.

While it is not a full embrace, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez’s mother have their faces brushed against each other, with their hands clasped in a moment of shared grief. Several news agencies released photos of the unexpected scene.

Muslim men are by tradition forbidden to touch women who are not members of their close family.

Conservative critics, already irked by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s effusive eulogy for the leftist leader, reminded him that he has not only committed a sin, but also behaved in a way inappropriate for the president of an Islamic state.

They said it was another sign that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was influenced by the “deviant current”, a term used to label his close aides, and increasingly himself, and distance him from the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iranian government spin doctors tried to deflect the criticism by claiming the photograph was faked.

“They have doctored the picture or took it from an angle that appears to show they (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Elena Frias de Chavez) are in contact. There was no handshake,” said Mohammad Reza Mir Tajeddini, an aide to the president.

Then in an intriguing twist, a clearly Photoshopped version of the picture made the rounds on some Iranian websites. It showed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with an old balding man in the very same pose.

The president’s supporters insisted this was the genuine photo, depicting an uncle of Hugo Chavez, while the one with his mother was indeed Photoshopped.

But on close inspection, it’s clear that the so-called uncle is the Egyptian opposition leader and former director-general of the UN nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei.

In real life, Mohamed ElBaradei is much taller than Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but in the doctored picture he appears significantly shorter than the Iranian president.

In another baffling twist, Entekhab, a website that had earlier chastised Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the original picture of the president and Hugo Chavez’s mother, issued an unreserved apology to the Iranian president.

It blamed the Daily Telegraph for “Photoshopping the picture amateurishly”.

This was all the ammunition pro-Ahmadinejad websites and blogs needed. A few hours later, Entekhab withdrew its own apology, however.

“After seeing the picture of Ahmadinejad and the old man, one of our reporters thought this was the real photo. Believing that he has made a significant discovery, he published the story without informing his editors. Unfortunately, the photo showing Ahmadinejad and (Mrs.) Chavez is genuine,” read Entekhab‘s statement.

There is also another contentious picture published by anti-Ahmadinejad websites, falsely claiming it shows the president hugging one of Hugo Chavez’s daughters.

The Iranian president’s supporters are claiming a smear campaign to discredit Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his aides as they attempt to retain power in the June presidential election.