Warning: This article contains details that may disturb some readers.
A man has been publicly flogged while tied to a tree because he allegedly consumed alcohol at a wedding a decade ago.
Human rights group Amnesty International have condemned the flogging which took place this week in Niazmand Square, in the Iranian city of Kashmar.
The victim was tied to a tree and lashed by a man wearing a black hood for the crime of consuming alcohol when he was a teenager.
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It is not clear why the man has been punished after so many years. But it's understood the man, who has only been identified as M.R., allegedly consumed alcohol at a wedding in 2007 where he caused a fight that led to the death of a 17-year-old, according to the Public Prosecutor of Kashmar.
The public prosecutor has conceded that the man was not involved in the murder and that the flogging sentence was only for drinking alcohol.
Amnesty International spokesman Philip Luther said no person, regardless of age, should be subjected to flogging. He said the circumstances of the case are "absolutely shocking".
"The use of cruel and inhuman punishments such as flogging, amputation and blinding are an appalling assault on human dignity and violate the absolute prohibition on torture and other degrading treatment or punishment under international law," he said.
Alcohol in Iran is prohibited for Muslim citizens by law since the establishment of the Islamic Republic government in 1979.
Article 265 of Iran's Islamic Penal Code states that the punishment for consumption of alcohol by a Muslim is 80 lashes.
Newshub.
