Some wars don’t make a lot of sense. Mussolini’s most inept general would have trouble doing much worse than whoever’s presently in charge of the war on drugs. Waging war on an omnipotent, omniscient being is, if you believe in that sort of thing, pretty much a beaten docket. As anyone who’s read Paradise Lost will confirm the last contender didn’t do that well.

The famously fair and transparent Iranian legal system has an offence called "moharebeh" which translates either as “enmity with God” or waging war with her or him. Its drafters show a curious lack of faith in divine retribution. It’s a capital offence. One would think that the theologically consistent thing to do would be to let the alleged offender wander round waiting to be smitten by a thunderbolt or turned into a pillar of salt.

In the slightly less elevated domain of modern Iran it’s used as a way of suppressing political dissent. Shiva Nazar Ahari, who founded the Committee of Human Rights Reporters in Tehran has just been sentenced to six years. The charge of moharebeh was bundled up with accusations that she was plotting against the state in a pretty obvious effort to politically isolate those who took to the streets last year in protests against Ahmadinejad. the prosecutors threw the kitchen sink at her adding that she’s a member of Mojahedin e-Khalq. In view of the relative lightness of the sentence it seems that they don’t even believe their own allegation.

Even within the framework of a repressive theocracy the charges are bonkers. The movement that took to the streets last year suffered a defeat but it hasn’t gone away. Supporting the demand for Shiva Nazar Ahari’s release is a modest way of supporting the resistance to Ahmadinejad’s government.