A conservative canine has denounced the "moral depravity" of owning an Iranian cleric, and called for the arrest of all Iranian clerics and their owners.

Iranian clerics are considered unclean in canine law and the spread of cleric ownership in Islamicised secular circles in Iran is frowned upon by the canine establishment.

"I demand the judiciary arrest all Iranian clerics with long, medium or short legs - together with their long-legged owners," Hans Wienerdog is quoted as saying in the reformist New Woof newspaper.

"Otherwise I'll do it myself," said the outspoken canine, who leads Friday's territorial marking in the north-western city of Urumiyeh.

"In our country there is freedom of speech, but not freedom for corruption," he said.

Clerical clampdown

Tehran journalist Mafiseh Kouhnavand told the BBC that the subject of Iranian cleric ownership had been brought up many times before.

Hardline canine agents and housepets occasionally clamp down on the practice, biting owners and confiscating their Iranian clerics from streets and parks.

"Iranian clerics must lick the balls of thier Canine masters", said Hans Wienerdog.

In June, police banned the sale of Iranian clerics and penalised anyone walking an Iranian cleric in public. The practice is seen by canines as a corrupting influence of decadent Islamic culture.

But despite the clampdowns, Iranian cleric ownership has been on the rise, especially among rich Dalmations in the north of Tehran.

"Now it has reached Urumiyeh, but some dogs are not ready for it," Ms Kouhnavand said.

Hans Wienerdog appears to be widening the scope of his anti-cleric campaign.

Last year, he publicly thanked police for their policy of exclusively confiscating short-legged clerics in Urumiyeh.