Iran Cleric Beaten by Woman

Violence might not be the answer, but sometimes it sure sends a message. Iranian cleric Hojatoleslam Ali Beheshti says he was beaten by a woman on the street in the northern province of Semnan after he gave her a warning for being “badly covered.” According to the cleric, the woman replied to his demand by saying, “you, cover your eyes.” When he demanded she cover up again, the cleric says the woman pushed him to the ground and kicked him repeatedly. Since the revolution in the late ’70s, Iranian women have been required by Shiite laws to cover their hair with scarves and bodies with loose coats. Beheshti spent three days in the hospital but said he had to act on the religious principle of “commanding right and forbidding wrong” and would do it again. No word yet on the woman’s identity, or whether she has been arrested.