Iran Snapshot: The Flogging of Somayeh Tohidlou

On Wednesday, Somayeh Tohidlou, a Ph.D. student in sociology at Tehran University, was given 50 lashes for "insulting the President".

The sentence has been hanging over Tohidlou, a supporter of Mir Hossein Mousavi, since the days after the disputed June 2009 Presidential election, when she was arrested for participating in protests. She was lashed in Evin Prison, her hands and feet reportedly chained.

On Thursday, groups inside and Iran condemned the flogging. The Social Science Faculty of Tehran University issued a statement that authorities "were intent on playing the scourge of humanity and humiliating their opponents", lashing "the voice of innocence".

Deutsche Welle reports further, via Persian2English:

Somayeh Tohidlou was born in 1978. At the time of the 2009 Iranian Presidential election, she was a campaigner for Mir Hossein Mousavi and one of the main planners of the Green Human Chain from Rah Ahan Square to Tajrish Square.

She is also a member of the central council of the Islamic Association of the College of Engineering (at the University of Tehran) and a member of the central council of the Islamic Association of the University of Tehran.

Somayeh Tohidlou was arrested on June 13, 2009, one day following the election. After 70 days of detention she was released on a 200 thousand [USD] bail (200 million tomans).  The Revolutionary Court sentenced her to one year in prison and 50 lashes, on the charge of “Insulting the President”. According to Jaras, she was pardoned from serving the one-year prison sentence but the lashing sentence was [upheld].

On Thursday, Somayeh Tohidlou posted on her FriendFeed and Google Reader that the lashing sentence had been carried out symbolically and not as it had been expected.  She wrote: “I must tell my friends who were worried about me that the execution of the sentence was symbolic and not in the way they had in mind. Therefore, they should not worry about me having endured any physical pain. Although there are unspoken facts, which I believe must be revealed at another time when my emotions and morale will not be overshadowed by the circumstances.”

Regarding the execution of this sentence, Shirin Ebadi, lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize winner, told Deutsche Welle: “The reason for the increasing naked violence of the regime is the weakness of its support bases. The regime turns more violent as it turns weaker and tries to show this naked violence to the people to intimidate them. And, in their own words, they believe in “victory by intimidation”. It is only when people fear them that they can overcome them. And lashing a PhD student and civil activist while her hands and feet are in chains is another shameful deed by a regime that bears the title of Islamic”.

Shirin Ebadi believes that the charge of “Insulting the President” has been merely a pretext and the [real] charge is that [Somayeh Tohidlou] was a campaigner for Mousavi. She said: “The real reason behind lashing her has been her participation in Mir Hossein Mousavi’s electoral campaign, otherwise, insulting the President is a common pretext. Take a look at all the pro-government newspapers, from Keyhan and Resalat to Jomhouri Eslami to pro-government websites. They are all filled with accusations and insults to the President, due to the recent political disputes. Why are the [words] of the Keyhan and Resalat newspapers not considered insults, but if a campaigner for Mir Hossein Mousavi states the same thing, then it is considered an insult? Therefore, the real reason is that this woman has participated in the electoral campaign of Ahmadinejad’s rival.”

After the execution of this sentence, Somayeh Tohidlou posted the following note on her blog: “Be happy, for if you wanted to humiliate me, I confess that I feel my entire body is suffering with degradation”.