ONE of the SNP's most high profile MPs has been accused of launching a "ludicrous and pathetic" attack on Westminster by comparing women's equality in Iran with the situation at the UK Parliament.

Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh accompanied Alex Salmond as part of an SNP parliamentary delegation to Tehran, which arrived back in Britain yesterday after spending four days in the country.

The Ochil and South Perthshire MP said she had raised the issue of human rights at "every key ministerial meeting" the group held and that she was pleased that at least one woman was present in the Iranian delegation at "virtually all" of the encounters. She then added: "While clearly Iran has a distance to travel on gender equality, so too does Westminster."

In Iran, women are forbidden from watching men’s sports in stadiums and according to the charity Human Rights Watch, have been sent to jail for publicly speaking out in favour of equal rights between sexes. They are forced to wear headscarves in public, with the rule even applying to young children.

Women are banned from leaving Iran without permission of their husbands, a law illustrated earlier this year when the captain of the country's female football team was unable to take part in the Asian Cup as her spouse refused to sign papers allowing her to renew her passport. Last year, the country granted a reprieve to a women sentenced to death by stoning after being convicted of adultery.

Scottish Conservative MSP Alex Johnstone said: "Just when you think the SNP's rhetoric on Westminster can't get any more ridiculous, one of their MPs ?sets new limits. It's such a ludicrous, pathetic remark, it's almost not worth even taking seriously."

Mr Salmond, the SNP's Foreign Affairs spokesman, said yesterday that there was a desire to usher in "a new era of co-operation between Scotland and Iran."

International sanctions on the country, which Mr Salmond said was the second largest market in the Middle East, are set to be lifted after it agreed to limit its nuclear activities.

Mr Salmond said he had secured the exchange of "full trade delegations" this Spring. However, the Scottish Government said it did not yet have details of any Iranian delegation and refused to be drawn on whether Nicola Sturgeon would meet with representatives of a regime which has faced repeated criticism for human rights abuses.

Amnesty International states that Iran executes more juvenile offenders than any other nation on Earth while torture remains prevalent. The charity, in its most recent report on the country, said it believes that public floggings and amputations sentences are still carried out for a wide range of offences, including alcohol consumption, eating in public during Ramadan, and theft. These sentences were increasingly implemented in public.

The revised Islamic Penal Code also retained the penalty of stoning to death for the offence of 'adultery while married', Amnesty International said.