The Iranian man, found guilty of torturing his dog to death, has been sentenced to74 lashes and a year of weekly lessons to "learn how to treat animals", reported the Daily Mail. A truly shocking video of the man throwing his dog against a car and violently beating it with a shovel had been going around social mediafor a few months.Afterthey went viral, the images prompted the local head of animal protection in the northwestern Iranian province of Ardabil to alert the police.Iran has seen many similar convictions in recent months, following the release of videos exposing acts of cruelty towards dogs on social media.
The statusof dogs in Iran remains divisive. Though the animal is considered "impure" in Islamic tradition, more and more Iranians have been influenced by western culture to think of them as pets.
Source : @AFP / Getty images
While some ultra-conservative politicians want to make it illegal to even own a dog and thousands of stray canines are brutally killed all over the country, the animal cause is beginning to make some slowprogress in Iranian society.Last February, hundreds of people gathered for a huge protest in Tehran to demand more recognition of animal cruelty, following yet another incident of violence towards a dog.
Source : @France24
Yet the Iranian legal system still doesn't have any laws in place to punish animal cruelty.These recent punishments - including the 74 whips - have been delivered according toarticle 638 of the Islamic penal code which forbidsHarm acts (acts of public outrage), such as eating or drinking in public during theRamadan fasting period.The judge decided that the public torture of an animal was aHaram actwhich deserved to be punished.
Source : @AFP / Getty images
Image de couverture : @TheDogist (photo d'illustration)
