TEHRAN // Iran's top clerics today criticised President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for consoling Hugo Chavez's mother with a hug - a physical contact considered a sin under the country's strict Islamic codes.

The controversy follows a widely published photo showing Mr Ahmadinejad embracing Chavez's mother at the funeral of the late Venezuelan president.

Iranian papers today cited clerics from the religious centre of Qom who described the contact as "forbidden", inappropriate behavior and "clowning around".

The conservative clerics also condemned Mr Ahmadinejad's condolence letter to Venezuelans in which he called Chavez a "martyr" who will be resurrected and who will return to Earth along with Jesus Christ and Imam Mahdi, a 9th century saint revered by Shiites.