Iranian president criticises student's flogging

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Iranian president criticises student's flogging

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has disapproved of the flogging of a student, who was convicted of insulting him, saying it was unfair.

He said that even senior officials had criticised him publicly before. 

“Even high-profile officials insult the government freely, so I disapprove that a young person be flogged for insulting me”, Ahmadinejad said.

The offence

Aref was convicted of insulting the president after writing an open letter to him, opposition websites said. 

Student activist Peyman Aref was said to have received 74 lashes on Sunday before leaving prison at the end of his one-year jail sentence, according to the opposition Kaleme website. 

Genesis

Iranian protesters took to the streets following Ahmadinejad's re-election in June 2009.

The protest was described as the biggest street unrest in the country since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The opposition says the election was rigged but the authorities deny this charge and blame the unrest on ‘seditionists’ supported by Iran's foreign enemies.

REUTERS/Shakira