New president for Iran, stoning in Afghanistan

Moderate cleric Hasan Rouhani was declared the winner of Iran's presidential vote yesterday after gaining support among many reform-minded Iranians looking to claw back a bit of ground after years of crackdowns. The powerful showing by the former nuclear negotiator allowed him to avoid a two-person runoff and demonstrated the strength of opposition sentiment even in a system that is gamed against it. The ruling clerics barred from the race reform candidates seen as too prominent, allowing a list of hopefuls who were mainly staunch loyalists of the supreme leader. But the opposition settled on Rouhani as the least objectionable of the bunch, making him the de facto reform candidate. Meanwhile, over the border, a doctor in Sar-i-Pul in the north of Afghanistan was reportedly thrown from a balcony and stoned by an angry mob for treating a female patient in an examining room without a chaperone. It’s not clear whether Dr. Ajmeer Hashimi was killed or severely injured and sent out of Afghanistan for medical attention, Afghan officials told the New York Times. The female patient is reportedly in good condition at a women’s shelter. It's a good thing that the woman is alive, but no doctor should be stoned just for doing his job. Doctors are there for a reason - to treat the ill and the injured. Just because his patient is a woman is the weakest excuse in the book for attempting to kill him.