Iran: Woman convicted of having ‘no-hijab infectious disease,’ which court says is ‘a contagious mental illness’

She has been sentenced to mandatory psychotherapy sessions, as well as community service. That’s an interesting new slant on the therapeutic nanny state, and a hint of how Sharia can be made to coalesce nicely with Western namby-pamby therapeutic authoritarianism.

“Iranian Woman Sentenced for Having ‘No-Hijab Infectious Disease,'” by Roghayeh Rezaei, Iran Wire, July 12, 2023 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

A criminal court in Tehran has handed a woman accused of flouting mandatory hijab rules six months in prison and a two-year travel ban, and ordered her to attend six months of counseling sessions for the treatment of her “mental illness.”

As an alternative sentence, the court imposed up to 300 hours of community service and mandatory psychotherapy sessions twice a week.

A photograph of the court ruling began circulating on social networks on July 10, sparking outrage among Iranians over the increasing number of cases targeting women who defy compulsory veiling laws.

In an act of defiance against the ideology and laws of the Islamic Republic, a growing number of women have appeared in public without hijab since nationwide protests erupted in September last year.

Some defiant women were arrested, summoned by the authorities and faced legal cases, while hundreds of businesses were shut down for allegedly failing to enforce the Islamic Republic’s strict dress codes on their customers.

A civil activist in Tehran who has chosen not to wear the hijab in public, tells IranWire that the Iranian judiciary seeks to “humiliate women and undermine their efforts to create social change.”

The Second Criminal Court of the Judicial Complex in Tehran said the woman in the latest case was affected by the “no-hijab infectious disease” and accused her of engaging in “sexual promiscuity.”

The woman was imposed the travel ban over concerns she could engage in “anti-Iranian” activities during foreign trips.

According to the court, flouting compulsory hijab laws is an “anti-social” behavior that constitutes “a contagious mental illness.”

It claimed that Western security services “exploit this illness, furthering their anti-Iranian agenda within Iranian society.”…