→2015→10→12→Editorial cartooning→International→Atena Farghadani subjected to virgnity test by Iranian authorities
Editorial cartooning International

Atena Farghadani subjected to virgnity test by Iranian authorities

1 minute 9 comments

From Amnesty International:

A recent revelation by satirical cartoonist Atena Farghadani that she was forced to undergo a ?virginity and pregnancy test,? prior to her trial for a charge of ?illegitimate sexual relations? for shaking hands with her lawyer, has added another stain on Iran?s shameful record of violence against women, Amnesty International said today.

In a note written by Atena Farghadani leaked from prison, which has been seen by Amnesty International, she says the judicial authorities took her to a medical center outside the prison on August 12, 2015 and forced her to submit to the tests, purportedly with the purpose of investigating the charge against her.

Shameful. I almost can’t imagine this to be true, but the whole case is unbelievable. 

Previous Post
The making of Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur
Next Post
NPR: Bloom County is back!

Comments 9

  1. Two days, no comments to imo is the most shocking thing I’ve ever read on the TDC. Freedom of speech is something we take for granted. God bless her.

  2. I’ve been to Iran several times. The people are warm, generous, and love Americans. The authorities, however, are another story. Why is Ms. Farghadani’s plight such a non-story for the media?

    I also think Anthony Bourdain should have kept his mouth shut when interviewing Jason Rezaian on his TV show. He knew he was asking dicey questions that might be troublesome, yet decided to get controversial on Iranian soil. What an idiot.

    Another non-story was all the pilgrims killed this year during Hajj. No one mentions that the cause of the stampede was some self-absorbed Saudi prince who had areas of the city shut down to accommodate his comings and goings. The result: chaos and death because certain exit routes converged creating a stampede. To protect our good friends (the Saudis) we say nothing. We also say nothing about the Saudis and other gulf states who refuse to take in Syrian refugees. It’s all disgusting.

  3. Mike, there’s been no comment probably because this is unspeakable. I know I’ve started, stopped, and deleted my comments several times, because whatever I wrote sounded hollow.

    The treatment she and other women endure in too much of the Middle East is just disgusting.

    Plus, whenever I try to write something, I keep remembering the GOP’s forced ultrasound probes. Men in the Arab world don’t have a monopoly on thinking they have a monopoly on women’s vaginas.

  4. Darrin’s comment is right on. Dumbfounded to say the least.

  5. Mike and Darrin, I can’t agree more.

  6. In all fairness, as revolting as Sharia law is regarding women and numerous made-up cultural discriminations created by men (no driving privileges, etc), the US and other developed countries are not any better. Human trafficking exists here as well as other discriminatory practices. And what about the women and children held hostage by polygamist communities? Let’s not pretend that we’re the model advocates for women.

  7. There are no perfect models on this planet. But talk to women who have come to the USA from countries that suppress women at levels unimaginable to Americans – you will see that they are overjoyed to live here, imperfect as it is.

  8. Put your flag down, Dave, before you poke some overjoyed woman in the eye with it.

  9. NO ONE is “pretending” the USA is a “Model Advocate.”

    That is your straw man. The fact that some countries have governments that are vastly more horrible to women than the USA doesn’t mean the USA is blameless at all.

    Put your dogma down or at least stop waving it around as if it was YOUR flag…

Comments are closed.

Search

Subscribe to our newsletter

Get a daily recap of the news posted each day.

^ Top