Iran Human RightsIran Lashes Man 55 Times for Refusing to Apologize...

Iran Lashes Man 55 Times for Refusing to Apologize to Friday Prayer Leader

-

Iran rgime lashing people

By Pooya Stone

The Iranian regime flogged a man 55 times for allegedly insulting a Friday prayer leader and “refusing to apologize” to him.

Rouhullah Barzin, a baker, had written a post criticizing Nourullah Afshar, the Friday prayer leader of Cheram, so Afshar filed a complaint against him.

The vicious sentence was carried out on Saturday, after being upheld by the appeals court in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province. Some reports stated that local officials tried to stop prevent the flogging but Afshar, the representative of the regime’s Supreme Leader in Cheram, insisted that the sentence go ahead.

In fact, Afshar told the state-run daily Tabnak that he considered the carrying out of the flogging sentence as essential to his civil rights and refused to take back his complaint because “the young man refused to apologize”.

In an attempt to justify the sentence, Afshar said: “According to the laws of the Islamic Republic, when a person carries out numerous insults and is not willing to apologize, what should (his punishment) be?”

 Nourullah, who is also the head of the Charam’s Headquarters for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice, had previously demanded during his Friday prayer sermons that several local officials be flogged.

Flogging is used as a punishment for dozens of offenses in Iran, including assault, theft, adultery, defamation, unmarried sex, and ‘breaches of public morals’, which could and has been taken to mean almost anything. This explains why so many protesters and dissidents are flogged.

Iran is legally obliged to forbid cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment because the country is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, but the Iranian authorities justify such punishments as a means of protecting religious morals.

In early June, the regime flogged a Tehran labor activist 74 times. Rasoul Taleb Moghaddam, a member of the Sherkate Vahed Tehran Bus Union, had previously been sentenced by a Revolutionary Court in Tehran to lashes, two years in prison, two years of exile in Southern Khorasan province, and a two-year ban on membership in groups and using his cellphone.

They also lashed Azerbaijani rights activists Ali Azizi and Eliar Hosseinzadeh 20 times on the charge of “disturbing public order” for taking part in a protest against the gas price hike in November 2019.

Meanwhile, human rights activist Nader Afshari was taken to Evin Prison to begin serving his six-year sentence for “assembly and collusion against national security” and “propaganda against the state”.

 

Read More:

Iranian Interior Minister Claims Just 200 Protesters Died in November

Latest news

 Statistics show that New Year accidents’ deaths in Iran reached 585

Ahmad Shirani, the head of the Information and Traffic Control Center of the Iranian regime’s police, announced that the...

Land Subsidence in Critical Conditions in Isfahan

Mehdi Toghyani, a member of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament), pointed to the occurrence of land subsidence in various...

Iran’s Actual Inflation Rate Higher Than Official Stats

The state-run Donya-e-eqtesad newspaper, in a report analyzing the "general sentiment" regarding inflation in 2023, has stated that households...

Iranian Workers’ Monthly $136 Wages Can’t Cover $500 Expenses

The lives of a significant portion of the Iranian population are marked by uncertainty, largely because the Iranian economy...

Iranian Nurses Earn Twice Their Wages in Ride-Hailing Services

Reza Aryanpour, a member of the regime’s Majlis (parliament) Health and Treatment Commission, highlighted the growing trend of nurses...

Iran: Unprecedented Record of 152 Million Liters of Gasoline Consumption Per Day

On March 19, Iran set a new historical record in gasoline consumption with 152 million liters consumed in one...

Must read

‘Iran ordered Lockerbie bombing’, claims ex-Iranian intelligence officer

The Independent: Iran ordered the Lockerbie bombing in revenge for...

US-Israel arms deal sends ‘clear signal’ to Iran: Hagel

AFP: A major US arms deal with Israel sends...

You might also likeRELATED
Recommended to you