(ReliableNews.org) – Iran’s treatment of women caused a major uprising in the country in 2022. Riots were sparked by the death of 22-year-old Masha Amini, who was arrested after allegedly not covering her hair. She died in police custody. Now, Iran is back in the news over the punishment it carried out on another woman.
On January 3, Iranian authorities carried out a sentence on Roya Heshmati. The so-called morality police detained her in her home in April. They placed her in detention for 11 days and took her phone and laptop. She was accused of refusing to wear her mandatory hijab, the Islamic headscarf that covers her hair. Authorities accused her of being engaged in “behaviours outside the norm” and presenting herself in an “inappropriate condition.”
Heshmati’s attorney, Mazyar Tataei, said she was sentenced to 13 years and nine months originally. She was also ordered to pay a fine of 112,500,000 rials and suffer through 148 lashes. The sentence was later reviewed, and she was told she would have to endure 74 lashes and pay 12,500,000 rials.
Euro News reported the 23-year-old said she took off her headscarf when she arrived in court to receive her sentence. A group of female officers placed another one on her head, but she threw that one aside, too. Authorities eventually handcuffed her and forced her to wear a headscarf. She said that they put her in a room resembling a medieval torture chamber. Authorities then carried out the whipping, hitting her in the thighs, waist, buttocks, calves, back, and shoulders.
Heshmati said that she tried to not show pain during the incident. She said she whispered to herself while it was happening. When she went in front of a judge, they told her to leave the country if she didn’t want to abide by the rules of the Islamic government.
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