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All of the photos in this article come from My Stealthy Freedom

Iran is one of the few countries that uses Sharia, Islamic law that is heavily based on the dogma of the Qu’ran. This strict adherence to an ancient legal code in Iran means that authorities resort to centuries-old forms of punishment.The problem is that Iran is a young country, and its youth are becoming more and more Westernised in their behaviour. Many young Iranians don’t practise as strict a form of Islam as the authorities would like, and increasingly they are less religious. As a result, every week Iranian media publish stories about groups of young people arrested in ‘mixed’ parties – that is, parties with both men and women attending. A party with unmarried couples and alcohol flowing is a one-way ticket to punishment by Iran’s morality police – if they are caught. Often the punishment for this type of crime is “shallagh”, or the lash in Farsi.The actual number of young people being brought before Sharia law is probably far more common than local media report. In every town in Iran, arrests happen every day and have even become normal as a result. To try to raise awareness of the injustice of these violent punishments, the Facebook page My Stealthy Freedom , which first became known for posting daring photos of Iranian women without their headscarf, has recently published a litany of photos of young men and women displaying their wounds after having being arrested.The photos are testament to the hours of torture that are inflicted on those arrested. Masih Alinejad, who runs the Facebook page My Stealthy Freedom, had to write, “These photos are too horrible, please stop sending them to me”. But according to our Observer, the worst part is not the physical pain. “It’s the pain caused by the insults and humiliation they put you through – that’s a pain that will never go away.”