TEHRAN, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Majlis, or parliament, has banned Al-Jazeera television's reporters from entering its building because of the network's perceived insult against the top Shiite cleric in Iraq, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.

    "The ban will be effective until the Arab-language news network apologizes for the insult," Iranian Majlis Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel was quoted as saying.

    He also called the move as "a plot masterminded by the enemies of Islam and Iraq," IRNA said.

    The Iranian parliament's ban came after Al-Jazeera's host of the talk show of "Without Borders" last week questioned the legitimacy of the leadership of Iranian-born Grand Ayatollah Sistani, Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric, in the war-torn country, who commands huge respect in Iran as well.

    Hundreds of angry Muslims poured into the streets of the two Iraqi cities of Basra and Najaf on Friday to protest what they believe the insult by the Arabic satellite channel against Sistani, IRNA said.