Protests in Iran over flogging of woman

Iran witnessed protests following the Iranian state authorities flogging a Kurdish activist for not wearing the hijab, according to human rights activists.

The Iranian judiciary recently sentenced Kurdish activist Roya Heshmati to 74 lashes.

Roya had refused to implement the sentence in a post on a virtual media platform, but the Iranian judiciary announced the implementation of the flogging sentence, and the “Mizan” website affiliated with the judiciary stated that these measures were implemented in accordance with the law.

The Iranians responded with great anger, which they expressed by social media. Sharq newspaper reported that Roya Heshmati was arrested in April last year after she published a photo of herself without the hijab.

Several legal charges were subsequently brought against her. Her lawyer, Masayar Tataty, told the newspaper that Roya succeeded in appealing against her sentence of more than 13 years in prison. However, the punishment of flogging for moral crimes remained.

Last October, Roya announced the ruling against her on her Facebook page, which is no longer available to the public. On January 3, she wrote that she appeared before the authorities with her lawyer after being called.

She described the place where she was flogged as a "middle ages torture room."

In mid-September of the year 2022, all of Iran and eastern Kurdistan witnessed a popular uprising after the killing of the young Kurdish woman, Gina Amini (22 years old), at the hands of the Iranian morality police under the pretext of not adhering to the requirements of the hijab.

 Sh-S

ANHA