A man in Iran has been publicly flogged 80 times, a decade after being convicted of consuming alcohol at a wedding when he was about 14 years old.

Amnesty International has condemned the punishment as 'horrific', after local media outlets posted a photograph showing the young man tied to a tree as he was flogged on his back by a masked man, while a crowd watched on from a distance.

The lashings were carried out yesterday (Tuesday) when the man – identified only as 'M.R.' – was flogged 80 times in Niazmand Square in the city of Kashmar, in Iran's north-eastern Razavi Khorasan province.

According to Kashmar's public prosecutor, M.R. had consumed alcohol during a wedding more than a decade ago where an argument caused a fight that resulted in the death of a 17-year-old.

Amnesty International said that it remains unclear why the sentence was carried out so long afterwards in Iran

He said that while M.R. was not involved in the murder, the man's flogging sentence was for drinking alcohol.

The 'offence' took place in the Iranian year of 1385 (March 2006 to March 2007) and the sentence was issued more than ten years ago.

Amnesty said that it remains unclear why the sentence was carried out so long afterwards.

M. R. was born in the Iranian year of 1370 (March 1991 to March 1992), which means he would have been 14 or 15 years old at the time of the alleged alcohol drinking incident.

'The circumstances of this case are absolutely shocking, representing another horrific example of the Iranian authorities' warped priorities,' said Philip Luther, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa research and advocacy director.

'No one, regardless of age, should be subjected to flogging; that a child was prosecuted for consuming alcohol and sentenced to 80 lashes beggars belief.

'The Iranian authorities' prolific use of corporal punishment, including on children, demonstrates a shocking disregard for basic humanity.

'As a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Iran is legally obliged to forbid torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.

'It's simply unacceptable that the Iranian authorities continue to allow such punishments and to justify them in the name of protecting religious morals,' he said.