Iranian Cleric Harasses Girls over Dress Code, Gets Beat Up

[SkyTrekTower]

They may be a far cry from their Western counterparts fighting for the acceptance to breast-feed -- or go topless -- in public, but two girls clobbered a cleric recently in a small town in Iran when he admonished one of them to cover herself more completely.

The cleric said he asked "politely," but the girl's angry reaction and some pugilistic double-teaming with her friend landed the holy man in the hospital, according to an account Monday in the semiofficial Mehr News Agency.

Hojatoleslam Ali Beheshti said he encountered the girls on his way to the mosque in the village of Shahmirzad for noon prayers in late August.

...

"She responded by telling me to cover my eyes, which was very insulting to me," Beheshti said. So he asked her a second time to cover up and also to put a lid on what he felt was verbal abuse.

She hit the man of the cloth, and he hit the ground.

"I don't remember what happened after that," he said. "I just felt her kicks and heard her insults."
Beheshti, who emerged from the infirmary three days later, said he did not file a complaint against the girls.

Link


Now, I'm not calling the cleric a liar, but I doubt the physical altercation happened the way he says it did. Unfortunately, while the cleric isn't filing charges, the local prosecutor is investigating the incident.

[Rabbit of Caerbannog]

Protip: If you don't want someone to slug you in the nose, don't stick it in other peoples' business.

[SimSim]

Violence shouldn't be condoned. Telling the cleric to fuck off is fine, beating him isn't.

[SkyTrekTower]

Violence shouldn't be condoned. Telling the cleric to fuck off is fine, beating him isn't.

You're right, violence shouldn't be condoned, however, all we have is what the cleric has said.  For all we know, he could have swung first only to have the girl block or dodge and strike back.

[davedan]

I don't know the guy isn't seriously hurt. In some circumstances violence actually is the best response.

[TheUnknown]

"She responded by telling me to cover my eyes, which was very insulting to me," Beheshti said. So he asked her a second time to cover up and also to put a lid on what he felt was verbal abuse.

How dare she suggest that I, a man, be made to account for my own behavior!  I can't control myself!  I have to control them!

[Lt. Fred]

I'm just hoping there's not some kind of nasty payback for this.

[davedan]

I'm just hoping there's not some kind of nasty payback for this.

Unfortunately,  I suspect your hopes will be dissapointed, my military friend.

[Sylvana]

I cant see this ending well. I agree with the girl though, if what she is wearing offends him, he should cover his eyes. That he sees it as verbal abuse makes me very doubtful of the peacefulness of his request. After all this is a nation where women are essentially second class citizens, if not property. I don't think I have ever seen a man ask anything of a woman politely in those nations.

I don't condone violence, but in a country where she could just have easily been violently beaten for apparently being immodestly dressed, I am not surprised by her actions.
Unfortunately I predict a mob will take these girls and stone them at the village outskirts for daring to touch a man, and a man of the cloth as well.