On august 31st two senior Iranian clerics praised the public whippings so energetically practised in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia as a good way of fighting crime. Muhammad Khatami, Iran's president, furiously disagreed. He called their comments "unacceptable". If there is one thing that refined, Shia Iranians like Mr Khatami cannot abide, it is being told to admire the ostentatiously brutal justice meted out by their Sunni neighbours.
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