Political prisoner Peiman Mirzazadeh went on hunger strike today in protest to being sentenced to two years of prison and 100 lashes. His flogging sentence was carried out on Sunday.

e started his hunger strike after he was flogged in Urmia Prison in northwestern Iran.

According to an informed source who spoke to the Human Rights Activists in Iran, Peiman Mirzazadeh was transferred to the 4th Branch of the Sentence Implementation Department on Sunday where he was flogged 100 times.

The 110th Branch of the Urmia Public Court sentenced him to two years of prison and 80 lashes for “blasphemy” and another 20 lashes for “drinking alcohol”.

Peiman Mirzazadeh’s body, especially his back and feet, are now heavily swollen and he is in poor health.

Peiman Mirzazadeh was previously sentenced to two years of prison for “cooperating with a dissident group”.

In 2017, he was arrested by security forces on charges of “spreading propaganda against the state” by singing songs in support of a dissident group. He was sentenced to six months of prison and was denied the right to a lawyer.

Iran is the only country that hands out harsh sentences to its citizens regardless of age and even hangs child offenders despite international condemnations.

The regime also does not consider flogging as torture and routinely issues flogging sentences for a wide range of so-called “crimes”.

Most recently, a 17 year old boy was sentenced to 100 lashes for reportedly sexually abusing an 11 year old boy. The 11 year old boy’s parents had retracted their civil suit against him.

Before that, an unknown number of men and women were each sentenced to 74 lashes for not observing the regime’s compulsory veil.

The men and women were vacationing in the north of the country, in Mazandaran Province, when they were caught on camera without the compulsory hijab in a boat in the Lafour Lake.

A teacher activist was also recently sentenced to 74 lashes and prison for holding a sit-in outside a government building in protest to the widespread arrest of teacher activists.

According to the sentence issued by the 103rd branch of the Shahreza Penal Court, Hamidreza Rahmati, who is member of the Isfahan Teachers’ Association, was sentenced to 18 months of prison and 74 public lashes on charges of “disrupting public order by carrying out an abnormal act outside the Education Department building”.

Source » irannewswire