Amnesty: Iran must stop systematic repression of young people

Amnesty International declared that young people in Iran are exposed by the ruling regime in their country to a “systematic violence,” referring to the incident of flagellation of young people on charges of participating in mixed celebrations. Amnesty International condemned in a statement the physical violence sentences issued by Iranian courts against citizens, citing the example of the Iranian journalist who was whipped after an error in his report on the confiscation of motorcycles by the police.

Randa Habib, Regional Director for Middle East and North Africa in Amnesty, said that these horrific abuses practised by the Iranian regime against its citizens, violates human dignity and international law for use of torture and ill-treatment, physical and psychological abuse. Amnesty based its report on new testimonies of Iranian women who have been subjected to physical torture and flogging in various incidents.

They shared their hardship on the Facebook page ‘Disguised Freedoms’, run by famous Iranian activist Masih Alinejad.

Cops flog wedding guests

One of the girls recounted how the police broke into her wedding ceremony in the Robat Karim County near the capital Tehran, without court permission, stating that the police confiscated bottles of alcohol and convicted all the guests at the ceremony to 74 lashes.

The Iranian regime prohibits most entertainment activities for young people, such as sitting in coffee shops. In last December, the police abducted 120 people who were sitting in a coffee shop in the center of the capital, under the pretext that they were not in a normal state of mind!

The Iranian regime bans musical concerts and entering night coffee shops, while women are not even allowed to enter the gym. Since the advent of President Hassan Rowhani, many coffee shops opened their doors in major Iranian cities such as Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz, but the police break into these places every now and then, describing them as “corruption centers that should be closed down.”