Oops, they’ve done it again. Iranian courts have, yet again, handed down a ridiculous verdict that degrades women and human rights in one fell swoop.


What’s this latest case? Iranian actress Gowhar Kheirandish was sentenced to 74 lashings for kissing a young actor on the cheek. The actress, who is mourning the death of her husband, simply made an “emotional, motherly gesture” when she kissed the young man, one of her husband’s former students.


Iranian artists are rallying behind Kheirandish. “It’s disgusting, ridiculous,” filmmaker Kioumars Pourahmad said. “Such verdicts only create hatred and further harm Iran’s international image.”


We couldn’t agree more.