The state security forces publicly paraded 15 men on August 22 on the streets of Khorramabad, western Iran.
According to the state-run TASNIM News Agency, during the “ceremony” the Khorramabad Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor accused the home robbers of “Moharebeh” or waging war against God and said they would be sentenced to death. This is while they have yet to be tried.
The 15 men were accused of armed robbery from homes in the past month.
Photos of the men was also published by the state-run Fars News agency, showing handcuffed detainees in slippers, standing in the back of police vans, and being paraded in the streets where the suspects allegedly committed crimes.
Public displays of degradation
This is not the first time Iranian police parade locals on the streets with the backing of the Judiciary.
Long lines of police vehicles carrying young men, mostly Iranians accused of theft, have been commonplace scenes in the capital, Tehran, and in a few other cities in a show of force.
Iran’s state media have published videos and reports of the public degradation of locals who were charged with “public thuggish behavior” in the past. In past videos, the men were paraded in police trucks, while masked security forces slapped and manhandled them, forcing them to “repent” in public.
These “criminals” are mostly paraded in public before they are tried and officially charged and are usually publicly humiliated only days after their arrest.
Humiliating people by parading them around cities and towns is a known practice of the State Security Force in Iran. This contradicts all human rights conventions and violates human dignity.
The regime’s displays of public humiliation have outraged Iranians.
Activists have described such scenes as “a blatant show of torture in broad daylight,” “a violation of human rights and dignity” and “reminiscent of Islamic State convoys” in Syria and Iraq.
