The Zahedan Revolutionary Court in southeastern Iran sentenced 14 people to a total of 450 lashes among other punishments on June 24.
According to the state-run IRNA News Agency, the 14 people were accused of economic crimes and were sentenced to a total of 450 lashes, a total of 184 years of prison, fines and confiscation of their belongings. The Zahedan Court prosecutor said the “accused” are currently in prison.
The identities of the 14 people were not stated in the report.
This is not an isolated case. In June alone, there have been 20 cases of flogging sentences issued by Iran’s courts.
On June 25, the Tehran Criminal Court sentenced a university student to 100 lashes among other punishment for having an extramarital relationship.
On June 15, the Iranian Judiciary sentenced four people to lashes in Tehran for economic crimes, in addition to other punishments.
On June 9, an Iranian pensioner and labor activist was sentenced to prison and lashes for protesting. Ismail Gerami, 67, was active in protests held by pensioners for higher wages in Tehran.
Iran’s use of degrading punishments and torture
The Iranian regime is one of the few states that still uses degrading punishments, even though all international civil and political rights conventions have prohibited the use of inhumane punishments such as execution and flogging.
Flogging is regularly handed out by the regime to its political opponents including protesters, and dissidents.
More than 100 “offenses” are punishable by flogging under Iranian law. The offenses include theft, assault, vandalism, defamation, extramarital relationships, and fraud. They also cover acts that should not be criminalized, such as adultery, intimate relationships between unmarried men and women, “breach of public morals” and consensual same-sex sexual relations.
Source » irannewswire