An Iranian woman has been lashed 74 times for refusing to wear the hijab.
Roya Heshmati, 33, who remained defiant as she was led away to be whipped, was charged with “encouraging permissiveness” after appearing unveiled on several occasions in the capital, Tehran.
“Her penalty of 74 strokes of the lash was carried out in accordance with the law and with sharia,” and “for violating public morals,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online website said.
Ms Heshmati was also reportedly ordered to pay a fine of 12 million rials ($288).
“The convicted … encouraged permissiveness [by appearing] disgracefully in busy public places in Tehran,” Mizan reported.
All women in Iran have been required by law to cover their neck and head since shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Whippings for breaching the dress code are uncommon, although officials have increasingly cracked down on those defying the rules after the practice surged during anti-government protests that began in late 2022.
The mass demonstrations were triggered by the September 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd arrested for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.
