According to agency reports, a 33-year-old Kurdish woman was punished with a total of 74 lashes in Tehran for violating Iran's strict dress code. The woman herself drew attention to the execution of the sentence on Facebook and described it in impressive shape. The Iranian judiciary confirmed the execution of the lashes. These were done within the scope of the law, as stated by the Misan justice portal.
The case caused great outrage among Iranians on social media. According to the Shargh newspaper, Roja Heshmati was arrested in April 2023 after publishing a photo without the headscarf, mandatory in Iran. She then had to defend herself against numerous legal charges. A prison sentence of more than 13 years was successfully challenged, her lawyer Masiar Tatati told the newspaper. The penalty of whipping for moral offenses remained.
Heschmati announced his verdict in October on his Facebook profile, which is no longer publicly visible. On January 3, Heschmati wrote that she appeared before authorities with her lawyer after being subpoenaed. Despite repeated requests, she removed her headscarf in protest. She described the place where she was whipped as a “medieval torture chamber”.
More than a year ago, the death of young Kurdish Jina Mahsa Amini sparked serious protests in Iran. For months, young people, in particular, took to the streets to demonstrate against the Islamic system of government. Amini fell into a coma after an allegedly violent encounter with the notorious moral guardians and died shortly afterwards. The state reacted extremely harshly. More and more women are resisting the obligation to wear a headscarf.