Iranian Ex-Presidents Gone Wild Update. "Iran’s ex-president denies touching women," from Agence France-Presse:
TEHERAN - Iran’s former reformist president Mohammad Khatami on Thursday vehemently denied breaking Islamic rules by shaking hands with women on a trip to Italy, amid growing condemnation from conservatives.
Khatami’s old hardline foes have expressed outrage over video footage circulating on the Internet which apparently shows the former president shaking hands with several women.
‘Khatami officially denied that he had shook hands with any woman and the film circulating is not based on reality,’ said a statement from his office reported by the ISNA news agency and Ham Mihan newspaper.
‘This film circulating on some conservative websites which shows him shaking hand with some Italian women is a version that has been edited and Khatami wholly denies this.’
YouTube has several videos. Forbidden handshakes at approximately 4:28 here (with, at times, the surreal accompaniment of a string ensemble playing a tango), and more in this one, sarcastically subtitled "love story."
According to Islam’s sharia law, it is forbidden for a man to have any physical contact with a woman to whom he is not related. Whether at home or on trips abroad, Iran’s officials studiously avoid handshakes with females.
[...]
The alleged handshake has already been condemned in the ultra-hardline press, who took a strong stance against Khatami’s cautious attempts at social reform during his 1997-2005 presidency.
Meanwhile, Etemad newspaper said several ultra-conservatives staged a protest against Khatami in the holy northeastern city of Mashhad and handed over a complaint to a special clerical court demanding he be put on trial.
The paper said the crowd, carrying placards like ‘Defrock Mohammad Khatami’ and ‘‘Death to the Clerics’ Foe’, successfully lodged their complaint and handed over copies of the film and other documents to the court.
It said the protests were part of a drive against Khatami ahead of key parliamentary elections in Iran on March 23 where moderates will seek to challenge conservatives for control of the chamber.
Khatami has said he will not himself stand in the elections, but he remains a hugely charismatic figurehead for moderates and retains a following despite the acknowledged failures of his rule.
Here's one more Khatami video for everyone's enjoyment. The funny thing about this one is at about 1:14, where the cameraman forgets himself and seems to take an interest in a woman walking nearby; he then quickly re-focuses the camera on Khatami.
A bit ironic, since these videos have become a means for condemning Khatami's as failing in a similar moral category by those horrific handshakes.
If Khatami were smart he would merely claim that these were mu'ta marriages contracted for 5 seconds each (he's a Shia after all and so can get away with it), or whatever the time it took to complete these otherwise illicit handshakes. The easiest way to render something unsavory legitimate, is simply to find some loophole to declare it legal, as even our own president seems to understand.
Seize Him!
I despise Hillary Clinton and all she stands for, but a part of me won’t be upset if she wins. Imagine these nuts reacting to a woman telling them how to act. Imagine Hillary reacting to Muslims who refuse to acknowledge her presence.
First, the pure entertainment value would be priceless. More importantly, it would bring the conflict to a head sooner than later, benefiting the good guys. I have not ruled out voting for her.
"According to islam's sharia law, "it is forbidden for a man to have any physical contact with a woman to whom he is not related." Could this be the reason for so much inbreeding in the muslim world? Benny Hill theme song please.
Maybe he uses official Islamic hand sanitizer after each intimate flesh contact.
He could use the "when in Rome.." defence.
Toejam; these official islamic hand sanitizers must have mohammed urine in them.
He could say they had breastfed him earlier.
...by shaking them, he could claims he was exorcisng their evil thoughts...it was either that or the torture chamer in Evin Prison...and of course, he follows the known Muslim tactic...Deny everything....but there are photos availiable and photos don't lie, unless you work for Reuters and CNN and then you can doctor up the photos to show whatever your want them to show...
Looked more like a fondle than a shake to me. Grounds for beheading, at least !
The aversion Moslem Men have to women cuz they regard them as fishy is, well, gay. You know, like where they don't even want a female human approaching their grave sites and all that.
I wouldn't wanna be a 9 yr old boy in the back alleys of Islamabad or Alexandria. That'd be like having a target painted on your backside.
Why don't they just exterminate all women and be done with this problem? These crazies out-Taliban
the Taliban with their incomparable insanity. And yet people think we shouldn't get rid of this regime of lunatics???
"Iranian Ex-Presidents Gone Wild."
-- from Marisol's comment on the article above
It was funny when you came up with it before. It only gets funnier the more you think about it. It makes my day.
Thanks, Hugh!
He is soooooo busted!
PEZ
I am also inclined to do same re: voting for Hillary.
Yes, her naivete and ignorance would come shining through quickly and things would indeed come to a head. The problem is the 4 year term she would be allowed to complete. If we could just amend that dang consitution and give wannabe presidents a 3 month probationary term, in her case, yes, I would also vote for her.
"Iran’s ex-president denies touching women,"
Oh the horror...eeewwww women.
/2nd grade boy
Speaking of homosexual tendencies, you should read the article in the Atlantic about homosexual activity in the "magic kingdom" of Saudi Arabia. There is a large population of gay men in SA. As long as you are a "top", there seems to be nothing wrong with it....
re: "Love Story"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMRtUDtyqHQ&mode=related&search=
Uuuh, watch out it's the amazing Mullah David Coppafeel. LOL
Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.
Ah yes, women. The Untouchables of Islam.
Guess he'll have to change his name to Sheik Yerhandi... until the remove his.
With all the sexual tension that builds up in your average Islamofacist, it's a wonder they even need explosives to blow up themselves up with.
All he had to do was the symbolic breastfeeding with the women he wanted to shake hands with and all would be fine.
I can see Hillary participating in the symbolic breastfeeding!!!
Robert said:
You should have warned people about how graphic this is, complete with slow-motion closeups. I felt like I was watching Islamic hardcore pornography. You could clearly see that he touched the woman's clothed arm! Unbelievable! I wanted to look away in horror, but yet I couldn't, I was drawn to its smouldering sensuality. 29 people so far have marked this video, out of the hundreds of thousands at YouTube, as their favorite, and after viewing it, I can see why. "Love Story"? I don't think so. More like "Lustful Smutty Handshake Story".
If I were Khatami's life insurance agent, I'd be pretty nervous right about now about my financial prospects.
Why not interview the women in the video and ask them.
Of course we know he did it, but he is trying to say that he did not.
Ask the people that were present. Those people were there because they (being confused) respected this man and his religion. If these women are interviewed, then the same man and his religion will probably put a bounty on their head.
What a circle-jerk of a religion.
According to Islam’s sharia law, it is forbidden for a man to have any physical contact with a woman to whom he is not related.
Except of course if she is an "uncovered meat" infidel, and the good moslem is raping her.
Shaking hands with girls ... Euuuuwwwwww.
Cooties !!!
PSA:
Tonight at 9pm (to 10:30) on FOX NEWS is a program titled "Banned By PBS; Muslims Against Jihad."
This is NOT the same film as "Islam vs. The Islamists" which FOX also plans to show eventually. I don't know anything about this one except that it is by the same outfit (represented by Frank Gaffney last night) that produced Islam vs. the Islamists.
It promises to be of interest to JW readers (and hopefully well beyond).