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Judges in islamic Iran have diagnosed three prominent actresses sentenced for not wearing the hijab as mentally ill, anti-family, and antisocial, prompting top psychologists in the country to condemn the "abuse of psychiatry and psychology in the judiciary."

SOURCE

The heads of four leading psychiatry boards in the country went public with their criticisms after actresses Azadeh Samadi, Leila Bolukat, and Afsaneh Bayegan were all recently given the diagnoses during their sentencing in a Tehran criminal court.

"The diagnosis of mental disorders is within the competence of a psychiatrist, not a judge. Just as the diagnosis of other diseases is in the competence of doctors, not judges," the psychiatrists wrote in an open letter to judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei published by Iranian media on July 20.

The three actresses ran afoul of the law after they appeared in recent months in public without wearing headscarves, in violation of the country's strict hijab requirement that has fueled nationwide protests in recent months.

Ahead of her sentencing this week, Bayegan announced on July 12 that she was retiring from the "dishonorable field of acting" after she was summoned to court.

Many female celebrities have expressed solidarity with the demonstrations that followed the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last September following her arrest for allegedly failing to wear the hijab.

Violators of the hijab requirement can face up to two years in prison, although proposed legislation would increase the maximum sentence to up to three years' imprisonment for repeat offenders.

Bayegan was given a suspended two-year prison sentence after she appeared at a film ceremony wearing a hat instead of a head scarf. An image of her at the ceremony that she posted on social media was reportedly presented as evidence during her trial.

Additional penalties for the 61-year-old film and television actress included a two-year travel ban, a two-year ban on using the Internet, social media, and mobile services, and a requirement to read and summarize an unnamed book within two months.

Bolukat, 42, was earlier handed a sentence of six months imprisonment, along with a ban on professional activities for two years, on charges she had "damaged public morality and chastity" by posting images of herself without a hijab on social media. Bolukat was also prohibited from leaving the country and ordered to read and provide a summary of an unnamed book within a month.

The 44-year-old Samadi, who was detained after wearing a hat instead of a hijab while attending a funeral, did not receive a prison sentence during her court appearance earlier this month but was denied access to her phone for six months and all her social media accounts were ordered disabled.

The addition of mental health diagnoses of "antisocial and anti-family" behavior alongside the women's sentencing, requiring regular psychological treatment and certifications of good mental health were judgments that the top psychiatrists say the courts were not qualified to make.

"What is stated in the text of the ruling as an argument for diagnosing a disease called antisocial personality is not proportionate, logical, or convincing," wrote the heads of the Scientific Association of Psychosomatic Medicine, Scientific Association of Psychiatrists, Scientific Association of Psychotherapy, and the Psychological Association of Iran.

Samadi was detained after wearing a hat instead of a hijab while attending a funeral.

The joint letter added that the diagnosis of "mental illness and anti-family personality" was "unscientific and strange" and was unfathomable to psychiatric professionals.

The letter called on the authorities to amend the sentences against the three actresses.

Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, a Tehran-based lawyer, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda on July 21 that the sentences suggested that "judges in these cases did not fully grasp legal principles or they must have been very nervous and upset at the accused and wanted to sentence [them] to degrading punishments."

Other actresses have also been targeted with arrests and harassment after protests against the hijab broke out across the Islamic republic following Amini's death.

Last week, the deputy minister of Islamic culture and guidance, Mohammad Hashemi, announced that the government had taken steps to prevent a film company from hiring an actress who had refused to wear the hijab. While Hashemi did not provide a name, media reports suggested he was referring to 44-year-old Shaghayegh Dehghan, who was charged in June for posting a photo of herself without a hijab on social media.

Citing the pressure of an "angry society," the award-winning actress Hengamah Ghaziani recently retired at the age of 53 following her arrest for not wearing a head scarf. Actresses Taraneh Alidoosti, 39, and Katayun Riahi, 61, were also arrested.

The acting and film community has rallied around the actresses, with the Association of Directors and the Union of Cinema Producers of Iran issuing a joint letter this week calling the sentences against Bolukat and Samadi an "insult to the conscience of all cinema people."

"We stand fully alongside all the female actresses of Iranian cinema and filmmakers who are cruelly humiliated by similar rulings," the letter read.

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Hard-line Muslims threw stones at a pastor in eastern Uganda and beat him unconscious as he spoke at a funeral using both the Bible and the Koran, he said from his hospital bed.

SOURCE

Pastor Davidson Okirori, 39, said he was officiating a funeral for one of his church members on July 21 in Kyoga village, Mayuge District when he was attacked. The pastor of Covenant Church of God in Buwenge said the church member, Vanisha Namukasa, had died in a hospital after an accident at age 34.

“The deceased being a Muslim who converted to Christianity, I carried with me the Koran, Hadith of Bukhari and the Bible to show to the mourners the fact of the unique and powerful resurrection of Jesus as the Son of God while at the same time mentioning that Muhammad being just a prophet of Allah did not resurrect,” Pastor Okirori told Morning Star News. “It was a good platform for me to witness the love of Christ to Muslims who had gathered at the funeral.”

As he picked up the microphone to address the mourners, the pastor felt called to use all the materials to preach, he said.

“When I started mentioning verses from all these books,” he said, “I heard a young man shouting, “You kafir [infidel], stop misleading us – if you came to bury your people, bury them, but don’t use the Koran without getting ablution. This is blasphemy to our Allah.”

Some Muslims shouted, “Away with him!” while others took the microphone from him and started tearing off pages of the Bible and Christian literature that he and other Christians had brought, he said. The Muslims began throwing stones at him, the pastor said.

“They were throwing stones where I was standing, and one hit my head and I fell down,” Pastor Okirori told Morning Star News. “A Muslim man hit me with an object on my mouth, and from there I do not know what happened again. I found myself in Mulago Hospital with blood all over my body and my clothes.”

Christians outnumbering the Muslims at the funeral managed to restrain the assailants, who seized the Koran and Hadiths and took them to their nearby mosque, chanting the jihadist slogan, “Allahu Akbar [allah is greater], we have won, we have won,” sources said.

The pastor was still recovering from wounds to his head, back and arms and said he was in need of prayer and medical assistance.

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immortalcrown:
Do not blame religion here. A Christian can commit this same crime for a different reason.

Blame those who cannot control their anger. Blame makers of weapons. Blame madness.

Honor killing is part and parcel of Islam, therefore, it isn't a crime in the religion.

Quran (18:65-81) - lays the theological groundwork for honor killings

Two IS terrorists (15,16) tried to get hold of swords and pistols and use them to kill all Christians in the younger’s class. Now they were sentenced in Leoben: They only have to serve two years in prison, eight months of which are unconditional.

SOURCE

With the aim of making Austria a caliphate, two IS supporters (15, 16) plotted an attack on a class at the Neue Mittelschule in Bruck on the river Mur (Styria). While the older one searched for construction plans for bombs and silencers on the internet portal Telegram under the username “El Terror”, the younger one tortured animals and cut off the head of a snake, among other things. Their plan to get hold of a friend’s father’s machine pistol failed, however.

They showed no remorse in court. Allah had forgiven them, they would go to paradise, they said. Now they have been sentenced, as the newspaper “Krone” reports. However, due to the juvenile criminal law, the two only have to serve 2 years in prison, eight months of which are unconditional.

“These terrorists wanted to kill people – they wanted to kill children (!) – their age irrelevant, but the verdict is an outrage!” a user rants on Twitter. “Imagine being a mother or father of one of the children in the affected class. I could never sleep again knowing that these people who wanted to kill my child will be out of prison in less than two years…” added another user.

A 27-year-old Lebanese man from Baalbeck in the Bekaa is suspected of killing his 26-year-old wife, also Lebanese, on Saturday night, an Internal Security Forces (ISF) source confirmed to L'Orient Today. The ISF source also confirmed that the victim had been shot 10 times.

A man, identified as the victim's brother, is seen saying, "I would have done the same thing if her husband had not done it," in reference to the murder of the young woman.

SOURCE

The tragedy occurred in Choueifat, south of Beirut. Following the killing of his wife, the man reportedly fled with the couple's children. Police have sealed the family's apartment, the security source added.

According to local media, the murder took place after the husband found photos of his wife (without hijab) on her phone.

When contacted by L'Orient-Le Jour, Ali Zaiter, the mayor of Hadath-Baalbeck, from which the suspect hails, said that what had transpired was a so-called "honor killing."

"Honor killing" is a term often used for murders carried out in reaction to behaviors perceived by some people as having brought dishonor to a family. The vast majority of honor killing victims are women.

Zaiter also mentioned a video circulating on social media networks in which a man, identified as the victim's brother, is seen saying, "I would have done the same thing if her husband had not done it," in reference to the murder of the young woman.

He added that the victim was buried in Beirut a few hours after being killed, but "not many people attended" the funeral.