Tehran  - The legal commission of the Iranian parliament has limited the rights of men to polygamy but the new bill has still to be approved by the country's legislative power, ISNA news agency reported Monday.

The spokesman of the parliamentary legal commission said that the new law would only allow men to marry a second wife after getting the approval of the first wife.

Amin-Hossein Rahimi added that exceptions would only be made if the first wife left the marriage or was sentenced to a long prison term.

Under the previous law, a man could marry a second wife without the approval of his first wife.

The new bill has to be approved by both the parliament and the Guardian Council, a body in charge of checking the compatibility of parliamentary bills with Islamic laws.

The new bill, if approved, could be considered a victory for women. Women activists believe that no wife would voluntarily agree to a husband's second marriage.

Polygamy has dramatically decreased in Iran in recent years, especially in urban areas, although according to Islamic laws, men can have four wives at the same time.

One reason for the decline is the more powerful status of women in the family and also because many men can no longer afford to keep more than one wife.

Many women's rights activists consider polygamy a form of prostitution but Muslim scholars argue that for example widows with no income would enjoy more respect in Iranian society as second wives rather than as single women. (dpa)