On January 3, the sentence of 74 lashes for Roya Heshmati, issued for not observing obligatory hijab, was carried out on the seventh district court docket in Tehran. This lady, who opposes obligatory hijab, has written a horrifying account of her sentence.
Heshmati acknowledged that she was summoned to the execution of sentences unit on January 3 for the implementation of the sentence of 74 lashes. She stated that she went to the seventh district court docket accompanied by her lawyer.
Roya Heshmati emphasised that she had eliminated her hijab since passing by means of the doorway gate of the court docket constructing, and in response to the court docket employees’s admonition to cowl her head in order to not get into bother, she advised them, “I’ve come right here for the sake of Hijab and receiving these lashes, I will not cowl my head.”
According to Heshmati’s account, the officer accountable for finishing up the sentence threatened her that if she didn’t cowl her head, he would strike the lashes tougher and open a brand new case in opposition to her for not observing hijab, in order that she could be sentenced to a different 74 lashes.
Describing the place the place her flogging sentence was carried out, she wrote, “They opened the iron gate. The partitions of the room had been product of cement. There was a mattress on the finish of the small room with iron shackles welded to each side. There was an iron gadget just like the bottom of a big canvas with a spot for handcuffs, with worn-out iron shackles in the midst of the room, and a small chair and desk with whips on prime, each behind the door. A medieval torture chamber.”
Roya Heshmati continued by stating that the officer put a shawl on her head, “The man took a black leather-based whip from the bunch of whips behind the door, wrapped it round his hand twice and got here to the mattress. The choose stated: Don’t hit too arduous. The man began hitting. My shoulders, my again, my hips, my thighs, my legs, then begin over. I did not depend the variety of lashes.
Roya Heshmati continued by stating that she muttered a chant beneath her breath through the execution of her flogging sentence.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights explicitly prohibits the usage of degrading and inhuman punishments resembling flogging, and Iran is likely one of the few nations that also employs such humiliating punishments.
Roya Heshmati added, “It was over. We got here out. I did not allow them to suppose I used to be even in ache. They are extra despicable than these phrases. We went upstairs to the choose accountable for executing the sentence. The feminine officer was following behind me and made positive my scarf didn’t fall off. At the door of the department, I threw off my scarf. The lady stated, ‘Please cowl your head.’ I did not cowl my head and pulled my scarf again.”
According to Heshmati, the choose advised her, “We aren’t pleased about this matter ourselves, however it’s the sentence and it should be carried out. If you wish to dwell in another way, you’ll be able to go away the nation.”
She wrote that she advised the choose, “This nation belongs to everybody. Let the legislation do its personal work, and we are going to proceed our resistance.”
The Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran strongly condemned this inhumane and medieval act.
In one other brutal act, the Iranian regime has sentenced Farzaneh Barzekar, the mom of Erfan Rezaei Navaii, to 24 months of suspended imprisonment.
Erfan Rezaei Navaii, 21, misplaced his life on September 21, 2022, throughout final yr’s nationwide protests in Amol (northern Iran) after being shot by the state safety forces.