Iran police step up repression in capital

Iran Focus: a pro-MEK website

Iran’s State Security Forces (SSF) tied a young man to a wall in Tehran on charges of “causing trouble”, the government-run news agency Fars reported on Friday.

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.

After being taken to a local police station, the SSF chief in greater Tehran ordered him tied to a wall as part of the police strategy of “introducing trouble-makers” to the public, it added.

Iranian officials often refer to millions of unemployed young men, who are largely beset by frustration and despair, as “trouble-makers”. READ MORE

The report added that on Wednesday, a “trouble-maker” from another district of Tehran was street-paraded.

Authorities frequently parade youths, forced to sit backwards on donkeys, 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 public in the Iranian capital’s district of Razi for four hours.

Mostafa was also accused of being a “trouble-maker”.