Three Iranian physicians were sentenced to 60 lashes each, a total of 180 lashes, for insulting a mullah through social media.
The verdict issued by Branch 136 of the 2nd Penal Court of Mashhad on December 31, 2019 was reported in by the Telegram channel belonging to Abbas Tabrizian on February 9, 2020. The verdict for the three physicians is going to be suspended for at least one year.
Abbas Tabrizian burned the Harrison’s Manual of Medicine, one of the world’s most credible publications on medicine, on January 23, 2020 in a gathering of his supporters. The mullah called by his supporters as “the modern Avicenna” said the reason he burned the medical book was to counter chemical medicine and return to the Islamic Medicine.
Tabrizian’s complaint and the court’s decision apparently took place before the book-burning by the cleric.
Later, the National Medical Organization filed a complaint against mullah Abbas Tabrizian and urged the seminary authorities to prevent him from spreading superstitions.
The statement by the president of the National Medical Organization read in part, “People in Iran and abroad, including young people and scientists reminisce the scene (of such book burning) to the era of ignorance where people were engulfed in their superstition.”