March 16, 2018
A 15-year-old boy is being held in an Iranian prison for adults on a five-year sentence after he tore down the national flag during a protest, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has reported.
The teenager, whose name has not been made public, was sentenced to five years in Hamadan Province for pulling down the flag during one of the many anti-government protests across the country in late December and early January.
“I talked to the youngster who had brought down the Islamic Republic’s flag in one of the squares in Malayer [city],” Majlis Deputy Mo-hammad Kazemi told CHRI.
“A trialy court has punished this person with a five-year prison sentence, which he has objected to, and the case has been sent to the Appeals Court,” said Kazemi.
Attorney Mohammad Moghimi told CHRI that, according to articles 285 and 287 of Iran’s Criminal Procedure Regulations, juvenile suspects under the age of 18 should remain with their families until their trial or at a juvenile detention center.
Furthermore, “In the Islamic Republic, we do not have any laws that consider pulling down the flag or insulting the flag a crime,” said Moghimi. “We have to see exactly what crime this juvenile has been charged with.”
The lawmaker said the teenager was one of 40 people still in detention at the prison in Hamadan for allegedly participating in protests.
Kazemi said the remaining detainees had been allowed bail but couldn’t afford it.
According to CHRI, some protesters arrested in Hamadan and Khuzestan provinces are facing charges that are punishable by death.
“Some of them have been investigated, interrogated and charged with ‘rebellion,’” said a legal source in Izeh, Khuzestan Province.
“The families of the freed detainees have been threatened a lot and are too afraid to talk,” added the source. “Most of them say that they are being slapped with serious charges and if they do anything wrong, they could be given heavy sentences.”
