Click to see the fake degree

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran suffered a humiliating and politically damaging setback yesterday when his Interior Minister, Ali Kordan, was impeached by parliament for deception after he confessed to holding a forged law degree from the University of Oxford.

The President has portrayed himself as a champion against corruption but stood by Mr Kordan as the scandal intensified, insisting that his minister was a “victim” who had devoted 30 years of service to the Islamic Republic and should not be judged on one “piece of torn paper”.

Mr Ahmadinejad sulkily refused to attend the parliamentary session, declaring that the move to impeach was illegal because Mr Kordan had committed no wrongdoing during his turbulent three months in office.

But the parliamentarians behind the motion countered that an interior minister should be seen to be incorruptible: his powerful post oversees domestic security as well as organising vital presidential elections to be held next June.

“A person who has to be entrusted with the country’s security has mocked parliament’s trust,” one deputy, Ebrahim Nekuman, said in a speech to the assembly.

Mr Kordan, like the President a former Revolutionary Guards officer, was defeated by a large majority: of the 247 deputies present in the 290-seat assembly, 188 voted against Mr Kordan, including many hard-liners. Only 45 voted in his favour while 14 abstained.

Mr Kordan’s unseemly sacking pushes the President dangerously close to having to submit his whole Cabinet to a review by parliament, which is led by Ali Larijani, the parliamentary Speaker, who is one of Mr Ahmadinejad’s key political rivals within the fractious conservative camp.

Under Iran’s constitution, the Cabinet must be resubmitted for approval if more than half of the 21 ministers are replaced. Mr Ahmadinejad has already replaced nine, often after quarrelling with them.

Mr Kordan’s disgrace will deal a body blow to Mr Ahmadinejad’s hopes of winning a second four-year term but will not prove mortal, analysts said. Deputies have accused him of naivety for having been duped by the lies of his disgraced Interior Minister.

But the President faces more serious challenges, in particular over his expansionary economic policies, which are blamed for rampant inflation that now stands at nearly 30 per cent. Plunging oil prices also mean that it will be difficult for Mr Ahmadinejad to keep handing out cheap loans to the poor who helped him to win power in the last elections.

Meanwhile, Mr Ahmadinejad’s failure to show up at several recent public events triggered rumours that he was too ill to run for president again, forcing aides to admit that he sometimes suffers from strain and exhaustion.

Times Recommends

• Please help: maimed children of war want their lives back
• Cabal seizes diamond riches to buy power
• White House gatecrashers got to the president