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Corpun file 7718 at www.corpun.com
The Daily Telegraph, London, 5 July 2001
Briton lashed for going to 'depraved' party
ABOUT 50 young Iranians, including one with British nationality, received between 30 and 99 lashes each for attending a "depraved" party, a local newspaper said yesterday.
Many of the 18 to 25-year-old men and women were said to have been "dancing half-naked" at the party in a north Teheran suburb at the weekend.
The Foreign Office was unable to confirm or deny the report that one of those punished has a British father.
Mingling with the opposite sex, dancing with non-family members and not wearing Islamic dress in public are illegal in Iran and are usually punishable by fines or flogging.
Corpun file 7432 at www.corpun.com
Gulf News, Dubai, UAE, 11 July 2001
Iran flogs 20 in public for selling 'obscene' CDs
TEHRAN (Reuters) -- Twenty Iranians were flogged in a square in the capital Tehran yesterday for selling "obscene" compact discs and videotapes, the official news agency IRNA reported.
The dealers had been convicted of selling the illegal material, usually pirated Western films and music videos by U.S.-based Iranian artists. The agency did not say how many lashes the men received.
Western-style tapes and CDs are illegal under Iran's strict censorship rules which ban images of women without an Islamic dress covering most of their body. But the material is widely available in the Islamic republic anyway.
IRNA said other dealers continued to sell similar material not far from the square as the flogging was being carried out. Plainclothes police barred Iranian press photographers from taking pictures of the public flogging, it added.
© Al Nisr Publishing LLC - Gulf News Online
Corpun file 7748 at www.corpun.com
Gulf News, Dubai, UAE, 16 July 2001
Iranians flogged for drinking, sex offences
TEHRAN (Reuters) -- Twelve men have been flogged in public in Iran's capital for a range of offences including drunkenness, selling "sinful" CDs and harassing women, a newspaper reported yesterday.
The daily Jomhuri-e-Eslami said the "thugs" were whipped in southeastern Tehran on Saturday, each receiving 75-80 lashes for their offences, which also included arranging illicit sexual liaisons. The whippings took place in three large squares in the city.
On Thursday, 14 male youths were flogged in northern Tehran for harassing women and public drunkenness, a punishable offence in Iran, which implements strict Islamic Sharia law. Witnesses said the youths beaten on Thursday were aged between 18-25 and received 20-70 lashes, with their hands roped to a police car. Hardliners who dominate the judiciary have recently stepped up their campaign against liberal influences which they blame on reforms carried out by newly re-elected President Mohammed Khatami.
© Al Nisr Publishing LLC - Gulf News Online
Corpun file 7709 at www.corpun.com
BBC News Online, London, 23 July 2001
Middle East
Iranian minister condemns floggings
By Iranian affairs analyst Sadeq Saba
Iran's pro-reform Interior Minister, Abdulvahed Moussavi Lari, has condemned the increasing number of public floggings of young people drinking alcohol.
In an interview with a government newspaper Mr Lari said public whippings in this day and age had serious political and social consequences.
In the latest incident, 25 men were whipped in public in the capital, Tehran, on Friday for consuming and selling alcohol, which is forbidden in the Islamic Republic.
Mr Lari, who is a close ally of President Mohammad Khatami, complained that as the main official responsible for security in the country, he was not kept informed about such harsh decisions.
He also criticised judges for ordering the punishments without considering their implications.
Apart from public floggings, the stoning of women for adultery and public hangings for various crimes have been on the increase since Mr Khatami's second landslide election victory last month.
Public floggings have rarely been carried out in Iran in recent years, but in the past few weeks alone, at least 50 young men have been whipped in three separate incidents.
In the latest case, the 25 men beaten in Tehran on Friday each received between 70 and 80 lashes.
Last bastion
The Iranian judiciary is seen as a bastion of hardline conservatives, and it appears that Mr Khatami and his reformist allies are powerless to stop its controversial decisions.
It appears that the judiciary is resorting to such severe punishments in an attempt to undermine President Khatami's popularity among the young.
President Khatami has promised respect for human rights and the rule of law.
But hardliners in the Iranian leadership blame Mr Khatami's reforms for what they see as the increased flouting of religious rules.
Corpun file 7709 at www.corpun.com
Gulf News, Dubai, UAE, 26 July 2001
Iranian men flogged for drinking, harassing women
TEHRAN (Reuters) -- Twenty-two men have been flogged in public in Iran's capital for offences that included drinking alcohol and harassing women, the official news agency IRNA reported yesterday. IRNA said 14 men aged 20-35 were whipped in a busy northern Tehran street on Tuesday evening, each receiving 70-80 lashes.
Another eight young people, aged 20-25, were publicly flogged in a northern Tehran square the same day for drinking alcohol and creating a public disturbance, the agency said, adding they also received 70-80 lashes each.
The agency said a large crowd gathered to watch the beatings, and some women wept as the men were flogged. Photographers were prevented from taking pictures of the lashings.
Only members of Iran's non-Muslim community are allowed to make or consume alcoholic beverages, whose production, sale and drinking is otherwise strictly forbidden. Five public floggings have been reported in Tehran in recent weeks.
Hardliners, who dominate the judiciary, have recently been stepping up their campaign against liberal influences which they blame on reforms carried out by newly re-elected President Mohammad Khatami.
© Al Nisr Publishing LLC - Gulf News Online
Corpun file 7708 at www.corpun.com
BBC News Online, London, 29 July 2001
Middle East
New floggings in Iran
By Iranian affairs analyst Sadeq Saba
A hardline court in Iran has ordered another group of young men to be flogged in public despite opposition from the reformist government of President Mohammad Khatami.
Five men were whipped in the western town of Boroujerd on Sunday on charges of public disorder and breaking shop windows.
In the past few weeks about 100 young men have been flogged in several incidents in Iranian towns.
The Iranian interior minister and pro-reform political organisations have condemned these severe punishments.
Public spectacle
The five young men were whipped in a busy square in Boroujerd.
They each received more than 70 lashes for public disorder offences.
The head of the judiciary in the town said unemployment was the main cause of such behaviour.
He justified the use of public flogging against young offenders by saying it would make an example of them for others.
Dozens of young men have also been whipped in public in the capital, Tehran, mainly for drinking alcohol and chasing women.
This kind of punishment has rarely been carried out in Iran in recent years.
Youth concern
But its increasing use over the past weeks has created anxiety among the Iranian youth who have been enjoying more social freedoms since President Khatami came to power four years ago.
Reformists fear that the hardline conservative judiciary is ordering such punishments in an attempt to undermine Mr Khatami's credibility.
The Iranian pro-reform interior minister has recently said the whipping of people in public places had serious political and social consequences.
Other reformists have said such punishments hurt the country's image.
But hardliners blame Mr Khatami's tolerant policies for encouraging young people to defy religious rules.
Reports from Iran say most people disapprove public floggings.
Other severe punishments such as stoning of women for adultery and public hangings for various crimes have also been on the increase in recent months.
Follow-up: 16 August 2001 - Iran's Cultural Backlash: Public Floggings Used as Tool Against Reform
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