May 26, 2018
A cellphone video showing a Tehrani punching a man for walking his dog in a park has drawn widespread attention and comment on social media in Iran.
The dog walker turned on his cellphone camera just as his attacker stood in front of him and lunged. After the attack, the dog walker left the park but soon returned (without his dog) to take a better picture of his attacker.
The attacker was now much calmer and said he was on his phone summoning police to come arrest the man for walking a dog in public. But the attacker’s wife, clad in a black chador, shook her fist and shouted at the dog walker, saying dogs were unclean and the Supreme Leader had forbidden people from keeping them as pets.
The attacker repeatedly tried to calm his wife and keep her from confronting the dog walker. The husband appeared to have second thoughts about taking the law into his own hands and spoke only to his wife, not to his victim as he tried to get her in hand and walk away.
The man who shot the phone video sent it to Masih Alinejad, the creator of the “My Stealthy Freedom” Facebook page that urges women to abandon headcoverings. The dog walker said the incident happened that day, May 17, in Tehran’s Ab-o-Atesh (Water and Fire) Park.
Alinejad posted a shortened version of the clip on her Instagram account, drawing more than two million views in the next 18 hours.
In the video, the dog walker approaches his assailant and repeatedly accuses the man of punching him in the face.
Neither the assailant nor his wife dispute the accusation.
Most of those commenting on the Instagram post expressed anger about the assault. Many criticized the Islamist ban on pet dogs, saying dogs are not unclean. They said they believe such laws empower Islamists to assault secular Iranians who choose to follow a different lifestyle.
There has been no reaction so far from Iranian state media or authorities. The dog walker has not been arrested.