A few days ago I watched a program on the Discovery Times channel called
Execution in Iran. It told the story about 16 year old Attefah Rejabi, a young girl, hung in the town square in her home town of Nekah from a crane in 2004 for crimes against chastity. Her “crime” was that she was raped by a 52 year old married taxi driver who was a member of the “morality police.” In Iran if a girl is raped it means that she wasn’t dressed appropriately or that she had a little hair showing or that she was doing something that tempted the man and thus she deserved the rape. The men usually get off (no pun intended) since it was the girl who “forced” him to rape her. Several years ago human rights groups put pressure on the Iranian government not to execute minors when they are charged with any crime against morality. Attefah was arrested three times since she fourteen years old for this “crime” (arrested for being raped). On the fourth time she was arrested by the morality police brought before a judge who determined that she was a dangerous threat to Iran and he sentenced her to death by hanging. One of the discrepancies in Attefah’s case is that her trial and the appeals process all took place within a matter of days, a process that usually takes several months. The appellate court papers reflected Attefah’s age as being twenty – two when in reality she was sixteen. This mistake was brought before the judge; he ruled that she was twenty – two. After Attefah’s death, her father brought the judge her birth certificate and her death certificate to prove to him that Attefeh was only sixteen. The next day Attefah’s corpse was removed from the grave and was never returned. Attefah’s story has been a great source of contention amongst legal scholars in Iran and human rights groups around the world. The town of Nekah was forbidden from talking to anyone in the media about Attefah. Atafeh’s story is not unique in Iran. This documentary seemed eerily familiar to what goes on in
some ultra – orthodox communities.
I remember when I lived in Israel there was something called the Vaad Hatzniut also known as the “modesty police.” These “police” go to teenage hotspots and spy on young girls and boys who may be “hanging out” or rat out girls who may not be dressed according to the strict religious customs of the long skirts, the big baggy shirts (lest she have a shape!) and thick tights. The “police” then report back either to the parents or to the school on what they had observed the young person doing. Usually this results in the expulsion of the child from school or harsh punishments rendered by the parents. My friend told me that a girl in her class was once called into the principal’s office and a man who looked like a typical secular Israeli was sitting in the office. He told the principal, I saw her at this place on that night and the next night she was there with so and so, etc. Of course the girl was punished. The school couldn’t send out their own people to spy on their students because they would stick out like sore thumbs, so they hire secular Israelis to do the spying for them. (I think this girl who was called into the principal’s office was from a well-known family, if I recall correctly she got pregnant when she was sixteen, she disappeared for a few months and when she returned there was no baby and no pregnancy. I think today she is divorced with a child and is heavily addicted to heroin or cocaine, I am unsure of the drug – so much good the spying did for her).
“Modesty” is of the utmost importance in these communities. The women wear thick tights even in the hot summer months. The skirts have to flow way past the knee (but not to the ankle – that is too trendy) and the shirts must be at least two sizes too big. Furthermore, if a woman is dressed “inappropriately” (not according to their strict standards) they are usually verbally harassed and in some cases even physically harassed with bleach thrown on their clothes. In these communities men and women never ever have any physical contact until the night of the wedding. Some city busses in Jerusalem are separate, one for men and one for women. Lest the men be tempted. For a community who stresses so much modesty one would imagine that since they strive to be pure on the outside this would be reflective in their character. This is not so. I just read
this about a fifty year old woman who was attacked on a bus on the way to the Western Wall because she wouldn’t move to the back of the bus. After reading that and after reading about the despicable
Neturei Karta taking part in the
holocaust conference in Iran last week it makes me wonder if ideologically, there are any differences between the two groups. In reality there are only slight diffences in a tactical sense. The ultra Orthodox do not use suicide bombers to promote their ideology.
It seems that these ultra orthodox fanatics will not be content unless Israel is a theocracy and all of Israel abides by their strict laws and customs. This almost mirrors the theocracy in Iran. Iran seeks to dominate the world one day and in turn impose
sharia law on the civilized people of the Earth. In both of these groups the means, no matter how deplorable they may be, justify the ends – a world dominated by religious law. It makes me think that there are not too many differences between religious fanatics, whatever religion they may be. Extremes in any spectrum are dangerous, be it political or religious. I find it hard to believe that wearing a longer skirt or thicker tights made anyone a better person. If a person does not have strong moral character, their long skirts or long beards will not give them character; as we see from the fanatics in Iran who execute a sixteen year old rape victim or the haredi nut jobs who beat a fifty year old women on a city bus. In this day and age our society needs people of strong moral character and moral clarity. Enough wars have been fought based on religious fanaticism and it has gotten us, in essence, nowhere.
