The sentence of 50 lashes for Somayeh Tohidlou, a PhD student of sociology and a campaigner for Mir Hossein Mousavi, was “symbolically” carried out in Evin prison on Wednesday. The sentence had been issued against the civil activist on the charge of “Insulting the President”.
According to the Jaras website, the 50-lash sentence was carried out while Somayeh Tohidlou’s hands and feet were chained.
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”.
Report by Mitra Shojaee | Translation by Davood Eftekhar
Source : Deutsche Welle