After being arrested for wearing a hijab, Roya Heshmati recounts that she was detained and sang a song while being whipped.
In the past two days, the narrative of a protesting woman about the implementation of the flogging sentence for openly defying the compulsory hijab and her resistance even during the flogging in the underground execution chamber has been repeatedly shared on social networks.
In the account of Ms. Heshmati, which has been widely circulated after being republished by Sepideh Rashno, a prominent writer opposed to compulsory hijab, she describes the way the flogging sentence was carried out, the behavior of the judge, the female guard, and the execution officer, and her resistance to not wearing a headscarf in the execution branch. She writes that the judge said not to hit too hard, but the man started hitting my shoulders, back, buttocks, and legs. I didn’t count the number of lashes, I was murmuring the song ‘In the Name of Woman, in the Name of Life.’ The black slave dress was torn apart, the night turned into dawn, and all the wounds turned into scars.
Roya Heshmati, a 33-year-old born in Sanandaj and residing in Tehran, as she has narrated on her Facebook page, like many protesters, did not wear a headscarf in public spaces and streets after the killing of Mahsa Amini in 1401. She continued this daily struggle for months, even as the security situation became more intense.
Ms. Hashemi, who was arrested for publishing a photo of herself without a headscarf on Keshavarz Boulevard in Tehran in the spring of 2023, was involved in several cases with heavy charges and sentences in the Revolutionary and Criminal Court. She was ultimately sentenced to one year of suspended imprisonment, three years of travel ban for propaganda against the regime, and 74 lashes, which, as she wrote herself, were recently carried out in the District 7 Court of Tehran.
She recounts that after refusing to wear a headscarf several times in court, two female officers in chadors handcuffed her from behind and forcefully put the headscarf on her. In response to the judge, who emphasized the importance of following the law while trying to persuade her, she said, ‘You do your job, and we will continue our resistance.’
