Calls are growing in Iran for the sacking of a government minister after snaps of him next to his wife without a hijab on on a trip abroad have surfaced online.

Anti-regime social media users have been comparing her appearance to that of Mahsa Amini when she was arrested and allegedly beaten to death by morality police

Rostam Ghasemi – Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development – caused a stir in the Islamic Republic when images of him with his arm around his hijab-forgoing wife on a visit to Southeast Asia more than a decade ago resurfaced online.

Farheekhtegan newspaper – headquartered in Tehran – has since demanded his dismissal.

The newspaper also took aim at the minister by recalling that the Raisi government had promised to build one million homes in its first year but failed to. Such a task would have fallen under Ghasemi’s ministry.

The newspaper also questioned the minister’s fitness for the role in light of reports that he is receiving treatment for cancer.

On social media, netizens compared his wife’s appearance to that of Mahsa Amini when she was arrested and allegedly beaten into a coma by morality police in Tehran on 13th September.

Ghasemi – who served in Iran’s elite Quds Force for seven years – is no stranger to scandal. One of his advisers and chief inspectors – Qasem Makarem Shirazi – was arrested for receiving a bribe in euros in August.

The scandal had raised expectations that the minister would be fired, but he remained in his position.

Iqbal Shakri – who represents Tehran in Iran’s parliament – has called for President Raisi to investigate him.