Iran Cleric Pummeled by ‘Badly Covered’ Woman After Warning

[Purveyor]

By Ladane Nasseri - Sep 19, 2012 10:23 AM ET

An Iranian cleric said he was beaten by a woman in the northern province of Semnan after giving her a warning for being “badly covered,” the state-run Mehr news agency reported.

Hojatoleslam Ali Beheshti said he encountered the woman in the street while on his way to the mosque in the town of Shahmirzad, and asked her to cover herself up, to which she replied “you, cover your eyes,” according to Mehr. The cleric repeated his warning, which he said prompted her to insult and push him.

“I fell on my back on the floor,” Beheshti said in the report. “I don’t know what happened after that, all I could feel was the kicks of this woman who was insulting me and attacking me.”

Since the 1979 revolution that brought Shiite Muslim religious leaders to power, women in Iran have been required to cover their hair and body curves in public with head-scarves and loose-fitting coats, to protect religious values and “preserve society’s morals and security.”

MORE...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-19/iran-cleric-pummeled-by-badly-covered-woman-after-warning-her.html

[Purveyor]

1. Sweet justice, indeed! Hopefully this fine lady went unidentified and the article doesn't

mention that she was ID'd.

[jpbollma]

4. good

too bad he didn't break his back when he fell.

[Ian David]

76. She was the one wearing black. n/t

[marasinghe]

80. nice. :D

"all cats are black in the dark".

[OriginalGeek]

2. Good for her!

Clerics can piss off.


As can any other religion's authoritarians.

[dawg]

3. Iran is not Saudi Arabia ...

a fact that most Americans miss.

Despite the severe theocracy, the people of Iran have their limits and the leadership knows this.

[leveymg]

5. Got a good chuckle out of that. In KSA, she would have been whipped.

[Marrah_G]

6. Good for her

I hope more women stand up to these horrid men.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

7. Heh!

You got beat-up by a girl.

[Nye Bevan]

8. Excellent, but I hope this woman doesn't get arrested and stoned to death or beheaded (nt)

[jsr]

9. I hope she doesn't get stoned to death for this

[get the red out]

10. Poor baby

Big nasty woman beating his little self all up. For SHAME. WAAAAAAA!!!!!!

[DetlefK]

11. Come on, say it: "Feminazi"

[Barack_America]

12. "You cover your eyes"

I don't agree with the reported violence, but otherwise, you go girl!!

[Liberal_in_LA]

28. +1

[Zalatix]

13. Did it say he threatened her or laid a hand on her?

[Marrah_G]

16. Well behaved women seldom make history

[Zalatix]

18. So committing assault and battery on someone who didn't touch you is okay?

[Marrah_G]

21. In this case yes

In much the same way I would cheer for a slave who punched his "owner" in the face.

[Matariki]

47. +1 what you said.

[obamanut2012]

29. He assaulted and threatened her first

Good for her for defending her human rights.

[Zalatix]

31. Like I asked, where did he touch or threaten her? I didn't see that.

[Marrah_G]

35. Are you male?

Or are you just ignorant of how women are treated in these theocracies? We aren't talking about a guy driving down broadway and insulting a woman.

[Zalatix]

36. "Are you male"? Ah, an inquisition. No wonder I didn't get an ACTUAL ANSWER to my question.

Carry on.

[Marrah_G]

48. I ask because you seem to think that women there have the same rights as they do here

That is not the case. And yes, I shall carry on, with or without your dismissive permission.

[DiverDave]

61. Are you serious?

Women have been KILLED for not being covered, he THREATENED her life.
To ask,repeatedly, if she was "touched"
shows just how ignorant you are.

She did what my wife would have done, and I would have done
if I heard him say it.
Coming to his defense is just plain stupid.

[PoliticalBiker]

64. I'll give you an answer...

It makes NO DIFFERENCE!
Women in those countries are treated as less then second-class citizens.
They can be legally killed by thier husbands, brothers or other MALE relatives for haveing the audacity of being raped. They can be beaten for merely looking at another man... regardless of intentions. They are not allowed to chose their mates, the men chose them whether they like it or not.
It isn't whether or not HE touched or laid hands on HER, it is HE insulted her and her choice of clothing... not once, but twice.

I wonder if he was beaten for getting beat up by a girl

More power to her!

[obamanut2012]

57. You don;t have to threaten someone for assault

You don't have to even touch them. You probably should talk to a good cop or attorney about what assault is, because if you did what he did to a woman here, you would be arrested for, MINIMUM, assault.

[Gormy Cuss]

66. Look at the text. He didn't *ask" her, he warned her. That's a threat

From the article:

asked her to cover herself up, to which she replied “you, cover your eyes,” according to Mehr. The cleric repeated his warning,

Hard to tell what Farsi words were used and how fine the translation was to English equivalents but from the above context it sounds like the cleric didn't ask her to cover it, but rather demanded it.

[11 Bravo]

65. Your knowledge of what constitutes "assault" appears to be limited (to put it kindly).

[notadmblnd]

69. He did. He attacked her psyche by verbally assaulting her.

Assault isn't just putting ones hands on another person. He assaulted her, she battered him.

[cthulu2016]

81. Assault cannot be entirely verbal, by law.

Assault must create the fear of physical harm, with some physical action required as an element of the crime. Merely raising one's fist is enough to turn a threat into an assault.

Saying, "Shut up or I will shoot you" is not assault. But if you open your coat to show that you have a gun then the same verbal threat becomes assault.

You can assault someone with a toy gun if it looks real enough to scare them.

[notadmblnd]

82. Oh yes, I'm sure he only asked her to cover up in the kindest way.

How could a cleric in a country where they're attempting to oppress women possibly do it in a threatening manner?

Here;s the rest of the paragraph.

The act required for an assault must be overt. Although words alone are insufficient, they might create an assault when coupled with some action that indicates the ability to carry out the threat. A mere threat to harm is not an assault; however, a threat combined with a raised fist might be sufficient if it causes a reasonable apprehension of harm in the victim.

[Selatius]

84. Legally speaking, making the victim feel threatened is enough to constitute assault.

If we're using American law as a standard, in most states, there is no legal requirement for assault to actually contain a physical component. The only requirement is that the victim is made to feel threatened for physical safety. Physically punching the woman's teeth out would constitute aggravated assault. If he had done it with a baseball bat or lead pipe or a heavy chain, it could be considered assault with a deadly weapon. I could be wrong on the details, but that's my understanding of it.

[snooper2]

30. Yes, this is one of those cases where the fundie POS deserved to get his ass kicked

any more questions?

And I take it back, you would fail as an investigative reporter LOL...

[WinkyDink]

39. Are you aware of Islamic history in this regard?

[leftynyc]

52. He did assault her

Assault doesn't include touching a person (that's what battery is). So, yes, what she did is more than okay in my mind.

[obamanut2012]

58. Yup, what I said

If a man walked up to a woman in a mall in, say, Kansas City or Seattle, and did/said this to a woman, his ass would be arrested, and he would be charged with assault.

[leftynyc]

68. I hope she tells all her friends

and if she has daughters, I hope she's raising them to stick up for themselves. Somehow, I think she is - this aint no shrinking violet.

The person on this thread who is trying to dump on this woman has no idea how this issue looks to women - out of all the problems in the mideast, this is the one that gets women up in arms.

[JI7]

74. Yes, in this case it's ok

[backscatter712]

83. I would have hit him too.

So sue me, that's assault and battery, and that fucking prick of a fundie deserved to have the shit kicked out of him.

Better alert on about 20 posts in this thread, including mine - advocacy of violence.

That cleric needed his ass kicked!

[Ghost in the Machine]

19. Why should that matter?

Sometimes, "fighting back" at something requires actual "fighting". Jackass should've minded his own business, and got the hint the first time. He harrased her, she told him to pretty much "if you don't like it, YOU cover YOUR eyes"... dude continued to harrass her... and got knocked on his ass. Just like dealing with a bully.. you punch the fucker in the nose, he runs off crying with his tail tucked between his legs...... problem solved.

[Zalatix]

20. Why should that matter? Around here that's called felony assault.

[oberliner]

22. Around here, women aren't forced to dress that way

Among other differences.

[get the red out]

26. Around here

Around here badgering someone relentlessly on the street because of the way they are dressed would be considered harassment.

Don't guess it should count if it's just a woman being harassed and demeaned though, right? A woman should know her place and never respond to harassment with anything but "yes sir, so sorry sir" I guess.

FUCK THAT SHIT.

[Brickbat]

44. Honestly, I wish more women would respond this way to street harassment.

[obamanut2012]

32. Around here, what he did would legally be assault

As well as probably another charge or two, but definitely assault.

"Interesting" you are defending the Iranian Moral Police's draconian attempts to take away a woman's human rights. Yup.

[Zalatix]

34. He had no right to take away her right to dress how she wants.

But I didn't see where he threatened her or said he was going to arrest her, etc.

Those guys do pretty horrible things over there, but I didn't see where he said "If you don't cover up, I'm gonna hurt you".

If he said that then I stand corrected.

[Brickbat]

43. He does, actually, as he's a cleric.

His role is to enforce the Shia Islam standards the government has embraced. Rebuking her was essentially a rebuke from the government.

[obamanut2012]

56. He legally assaulted her, as any good cop will tell you

Or any good attorney or judge.

You don't have to threaten someone for it to be assault, nor do you have to touch them. That isn't what assault is.

He legally assaulted her. Glad she kicked his jerk ass.

[cthulu2016]

77. You do have to threaten someone for it to be assault.

The essential elements of assault are an act intended to cause an apprehension of harmful or offensive contact that does cause that apprehension of such contact in the victim.

Words cannot be assault unless accompanied by threatening gesture, and/or demonstration of the ability to do the threatened harm. Pointing a gun at you is assault. Someone saying, "I will shoot you" and opening his coat to show a gun that is not pointed at you is also assault.

The legal definition may confuse some because of the phrase "offensive contact" which does not mean what we would use it to mean in everyday speech—offensive contact means physical battery.

[Ecumenist]

71. Do you understand what Imams can do in places like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Somalia?

Simply on HIS WORD, you can be jailed, beaten and/or killed! She was defending her very life. I like the way she told him to "COVER HIS EYES"! Good on her!! He's lucky because I would have stomped him into a greasy stain. I wear 4 to 6 inch spikes on the regular....I would have done serious, bodily harm, trust me!

[WinkyDink]

40. Well, Columbo, you're not in Iran.

[dogday]

41. Around here that's called karma

what comes around, goes around....

[treestar]

60. True.

If some guy tells me I should go home and clean the house and not be out in the world doing stuff, or that I should wear more, I don't have a right to assault him.

Not in the US

Something about it happening in Iran is probably what fuels the approval. It may take physical force for Iranian women to stand up for their rights. Iran is not exactly a hotbed of equality. So it may be a form of revolution as it were.

[Zalatix]

87. Revolution? good point.

[backscatter712]

85. Actually, my bet is the charge would be at minimum equivalent to assaulting a police officer.

She didn't just hit some random shithead, she hit a member of the Islamic clergy, who has quite a bit of authority under Iran's batshit government.

If she's caught, it won't be a mundane assault and battery charge - they'll probably want to hang her!

That said, I hope she gets away with it - that cleric deserved to get the shit kicked out of him - fucking fundie!

[WinkyDink]

38. Are you joking? IT WAS NONE OF HIS F************ BUSINESS.

[antigone382]

54. How do you define "threaten"?

He was acting under the authority of the state. Implicit in state-sanctioned authority is the threat of legitimized violence--whether he does the striking himself, or whether she is detained and beaten for refusing to follow his orders, the threat of a forceful response to resistance is an overt tool to obtain compliance. Her options were as follows: comply with his request, refuse and face the violence that would be done to her as a result (and I do consider forced detention to be violence, whether physical harm is done or not), or refuse, disable the authority figure from using either his own force or the force of the state to sanction her transgressions, and leave without having her identity detected.

In general I would see your point that we should not congratulate the use of violence by women against men. However, in this particular case, focusing on the immediate threat posed by the man in question, and ignoring the threat of state-administered violence which he had at his disposal, misrepresents the situation, as well as the options available to this particular woman.

[LeftyMom]

62. He's part of a religious establishment that's tied into a state that uses goon squads on people.

He doesn't need to threaten her, because they both already know that uppity women wind up in prison or bleeding in the street.

[antigone382]

75. It interests me that you haven't addressed any responses which point out the implicit threat...

...posed by a cleric, who, as the woman in question was certainly aware, had the full force of the state at his disposal if she did not comply with his demand.

This is a key factor in analyzing this woman's actions, yet you seem to be perceiving support for her choice simply as a sexist celebration of female violence against men, without acknowledging the very real harm she might have suffered.

[Schema Thing]

14. If I was President, this is the way I would use Seal Team Six.

[hifiguy]

15. I hope she kicked him smartly in

the goolies.

[sarcasmo]

17. Muslim Women need to do this more often.

[eShirl]

45. hell yes

[Matariki]

46. Seriously. They need to be running secret martial arts groups.

Women only of course. As if there would be a choice.

[redqueen]

70. Not secret...

http://m.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/02/why-thousands-of-iranian-women-are-training-to-be-ninjas/252531/

[obamanut2012]

72. Oddly enough, some do -- as Ninjas!

http://www.military.com/video/specialties-and-personnel/martial-arts/iranian-women-train-as-ninjas/1439113378001/

[alphafemale]

78. Yes. They are the only ones that can stop this. nt

[JRLeft]

23. Covering up is not in the Qua'ran. It is cultural bullshit. Created by man because they get aroused

by women's looks and bodies.

[rollin74]

24. I love it! Good for her

[Auntie Bush]

25. I hope her foot had good aim and found a soft cushy spot to do some permanent damage.

God will!

[kestrel91316]

27. Good for her. I hope he hurts for quite a while.

Might make him think twice before being such a sexist pig in the future.

[Jack Rabbit]

33. You go, girl!

!!

[Cali_Democrat]

37. Sweet!!

You go girl! Beat his ass!

[Matariki]

42. That is GRATIFYING. Go sister!

[4_TN_TITANS]

49. He got off pretty easy IMHOP

compared to what the Liberal women in my family would do to him. My teenage daughter alone would teach him a whole new vocabulary.

[Dorian Gray]

50. She's got moxie!

[leftynyc]

51. I want to buy this woman dinner

THIS is what it's going to take. Kick the crap out of any man who doesn't consider women equal and all women should refuse to cover up and disappear.

[Rider3]

53. Good for her!!!!!!

I hope she's not stoned to death in that culture. She needs to be protected.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

55. “you, cover your eyes,” Best reply ever! nt

[stevenleser]

59. Members of the Mullah-tocracy can hardly whine about a few kicks after all the people...

they put to death during their ascent to power and first few years.

As long as religious authoritarians are in power, I hope "Kick a Mullah" becomes a slogan that is often put into practice in Iran.

[Gary 50]

63. Worst day of his life.

In the Bloomberg article the cleric said it was the worst day of his life. Great! Maybe next time he will think twice before threatening a woman. If you don't think there was an implied threat you are ignorant of the reality that women face under these religious nazis.

[MadrasT]

67. Love, love, love "you, cover your eyes".

I get a little squeamish when things get physical, but I was not there, I was not in her shoes, and I am not going to judge based on some reporter's description of what happened.

"You, cover your eyes."

Yessssssssssss!

[Uncle Joe]

73. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Purveyor.

[WCGreen]

79. Just watched the movie Persepolis last week...

wonderful look at the Iranian Revolution that brought us Khomeini.

It's told from the persecutive of a young woman coming of age in Iran at the onset of the revolution and then her years in Europe and when she came back to Iran after the revolutionaries took control.

[Alduin]

86. Good on her.

I'm glad women are starting to rise up over there.

[tavalon]

88. I don't usually applaud violence

but in this case, I think I'm willing to make an exception.