A popular Iranian musician who was arrested two years ago during a crackdown on artists and academics has been punished with 74 lashes in what activists said on Thursday was a bid to humiliate him for supporting a nationwide uprising.
The musician, Mehdi Yarrahi, 43, was subjected to the flogging by officers of the Morality Security Prosecutor’s Office in Tehran on Wednesday, his lawyer Zahra Minuei said on social media. The punishment, which Iran’s Revolutionary Court had sentenced him to, brought an end to a yearslong criminal case.
“He who is not willing to pay the price for freedom does not deserve freedom,” Mr. Yarrahi said in a post on his official X account on Wednesday. He thanked his legal team and said, “Wishing for liberation.”
Mostafa Nili, another lawyer representing Mr. Yarrahi, said on Thursday that his client was unable to sit or lean on his back because of the punishment. The United Nations’ International Bill of Human Rights strictly prohibits flogging, calling it inhumane and degrading.
The extreme punishment comes as Iran’s artist community celebrates two Iranian directors who on Sunday won an Oscar for an animated short that had been nominated by Iran. On social media, some Iranians pointed out in outrage that while outside the country Iranian artists were being honored with accolades, inside they faced abusive treatment by the government.
Mr. Yarrahi was arrested in a wave of detentions that aimed to quell any protests marking the anniversary of a 2022 uprising in which protests led by young people, particularly women, rocked Iran’s religiously conservative establishment.
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