Iran appoints women judges

The authorities in Iran have named women as judges for the first time since the Islamic revolution in nineteen-seventy-nine.

The Iranian news agency said four were appointed to the family court in the city of Ray, in Teheran province.

The chief justice in Ray said the women were among ten judges who had joined the city court to help get through the backlog of cases.

Since the revolution, the Iranian clergy has stressed the traditional family role of women and until now women had been barred from becoming judges.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service