Iran’s police tie three to tree on charges of “hooliganism” Tue. 11 Apr 2006

Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Apr. 11 – Iran’s State Security Forces tied three men to a tree in public in Tehran, state-run press reported on Tuesday.

The three men, one of whom was identified as 27-year-old Hamid, were tied to a tree on Monday in the district of Tajrish.

A court had convicted them of “hooliganism”.

On Sunday, another man identified only by his first name Mehdi was tied to a tree for an hour in the Iranian capital’s district of Javadieh on similar charges, the state-run news agency Fars reported.

On Friday, it reported that security agents had tied a young man to a wall in Tehran on charges of “causing trouble”.

The man, who was identified only by his first name Mohammad, was 24 years old according to the report which also carried photos of him being tied to the wall.

Mohammad was arrested Thursday afternoon in Tehran’s Khavaran district on the charge of “hooliganism”, the report said.

Authorities frequently use degrading punishments against youths in their local neighbourhood so as to embarrass and humiliate them.

Such punishments are often used for petty crimes such as alcohol consumption, disregarding nightly curfews, and disrespect towards security agents.

There was also a separate report that authorities went ahead with tying a teenager to a tree in public in Tehran on Thursday.

The 18-year-old, identified only by his first name Mostafa, was tied to a tree in the Iranian capital’s district of Razi for four hours charged with being a “trouble-maker”.

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