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Iran: Public flogging is 'the best deterrent', chief prosecutor
Tehran, 26 Sept. (AKI) - Iran's chief prosecutor, Hojatolislam Dori Najafabadi, has defended the country's practice of public flogging, saying that it "is the best deterrent".
Speaking at a conference organised by the Association for the Defence of Detainees, Najafabadi said that "some consider corporal punishment instead of jail term, a violation of human rights."
"These people are wrong," he said. "Because public flogging doesn't just allow us to cut down on the the number of people in jail, but it's also the best means of prevention."
The chief prosecutor said that the prison system in Iran "despite its problems and defects, it is among the best in the world."
“It's not by chance that many countries ask for our advice to reform their prison system according to our model," he added.
According to the New York-based Human Rights Watch, the government of Iran "routinely uses torture and ill-treatment in detention, including prolonged solitary confinement, to punish dissidents."
The rights group says that the treatment of detainees in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran has deteriorated.
The best-known case of abuse in Evin prison was that of the Canadian-Iranian photographer Zahra Kazemi who was arrested after taking pictures of relatives outside Evin jail.
She was so badly beaten that she died of her injuries in 2003.
© 2007 Giuseppe Marra Communications
AKI - Adnkronos International |
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