Roya Heshmati

Roya HeshmatiBorn1990Sanandaj, IranKnown forExecution of whipping sentence for publishing photos without hijab on social networks
Roya Heshmati () is an Iranian activist. The Iranian government says that women have to wear a hijab, when they are in public. Hashmati posted a photo of her on social media, where she does not wear a hijab. For this she was arrested, and sentenced to 74  lashes.

 Charges and arrest 
After she had published the image, police agents entered her house late at night and arrested her. This was on April 20, 2023. Her mobile phone and laptop were also confiscated. She spent eleven days in jail. 

The whipping

On 3 January 2024, the lashes sentence was executed. She had been charged with causing public chastity injury. Afterwards, Heshmati published a note in which she wrote: "The judge said, 'Don't hit too hard.' The man started hitting me hard. My shoulders, my back, my buttocks, my face, my legs. I lost count of the number of lashes. Under my breath, I was reciting in the name of woman, in the name of life, the garment of slavery was torn, our dark night turns into dawn, all the shackles break." In her note, she explained that she refused to wear a headscarf in court, and then, in front of the judge, in what she described as "a medieval torture chamber," a man whipped her.

 Sources 

Category:1990 births
Category:Living people
Category:Iranian activists
Category:Articles with hCards