130 Lashes for Two Beers

(Drammen, Norway) A 35-year-old Kurdish man, Mamand Mamandy, was visiting his mother in Baneh, Iran, when he was caught drinking beer by the police.

"We were on an outing with family and friends, six or seven in the evening, and were having a barbecue and enjoying ourselves. Altogether I drank two beers. The police happened to drive by," Mamandy said.

He said that he was immediately arrested and taken to the police station where he was sentenced to 130 lashes. This sentence, for beer drinking, was carried out publicly according to news agency Iran Focus.

Mamand Mamandy - After 130 lashes for drinking beer

"I received 130 lashes on the back of my body. Police whipped me," Mamandy said. He came to Norway as an asylum seeker in 1999. He lives in Drammen with his wife and they are awaiting Norwegian citizenship.

Mamandy is recovering back in Norway, likely satiated with tolerance for the religion of peace.