A young man was flogged in public in Iranshahr, Sistan-o-Baluchestan Province, SE Iran. The flogging took place on Monday, June 17, in the city’s busy IranPayma Square. The man was accused of theft.
Flogging is one of the most common forms of the inhuman medieval punishments practiced in Iran. Many flogging sentences are handed down in Iran.
In October 2018, fifteen employees of the Heavy Equipment Production Company (HEPCO), were issued suspended prison and lashing sentences for striking for unpaid wages.
Also on October 21, eleven civil rights activists arrested during the December 2017-January 2018 were sentenced to prison and flogging by the 1st Branch of the Markazi Province Court of Appeal. According to this sentence, human rights lawyer Mohammad Najafi, Ali Bagheri, and Abbas Safari were each sentenced to three years of prison and 74 lashes.
In September 2018, Mohammad Amin Abdollahi, a political prisoner at Birjand Central Prison, has been sentenced to 74 lashes and six months deprivation of leave.
On July 10, another young man was flogged in public in Niazmand Square, Kashmar, Razavi Khorasan province, for consuming alcohol when he was just 14 or 15 years old over a decade ago. The victim was identified only as M.R. Amnesty International condemned the implementation of this verdict as inhumane, saying the Iranian Justice system legalizes brutality.
More than 100 “offences” are punishable by flogging under Iranian law. The offences include theft, assault, vandalism, defamation and fraud.
UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran in a report in March 2018 decried the alarming situation of human rights in Iran and called for a halt in executions, flogging, and amputations. The late Asma Jahangir urged Tehran to halt the use of harsh corporal punishments, saying 50 flogging sentences and five amputation sentences were reportedly carried out in the country the previous year.
