Iran's parliament demands interior minister's impeachment

Tehran, Oct 26 (DPA) The Iranian parliament Sunday demanded that Interior Minister Ali Kordan be impeached for having presented it with a fake honorary doctorate from Oxford University, a media report said.

Parliament will debate Nov 4 whether the impeachment would be accepted or not, ISNA news agency reported.

In a letter to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last month, Kordan admitted that the certificate from the prestigious British university which he presented to parliament was a fake.

But he also claimed that he was victim of a swindle by a man who allegedly posed as a representative of the university in Tehran.

Presentation of false documents, especially in government service, is a crime punishable by imprisonment in Iran.

Signatories of the impeachment motion have said irrespective of whether he had been deceived or he was dishonest, Kordan could no longer hold the post of interior minister - a post directly in charge of next year's presidential elections.