Saed News: Charles James Wills was a British doctor and officer who traveled to Iran during the Qajar era as one of the medical officers of the British Telegraph Department. Dr. Wills recounts his memories of this journey in a book titled "In the Land of Lion and Sun", which has been translated into Persian as "Iran a Century Ago".
Here is an excerpt from Dr. Wills' memoirs, in which he talks about the punishment of soldiers who were assigned to guard the residence of a person known as "Hakimbashi," but while carrying out their duties, they harassed some of the neighboring women and girls:
A few moments later, Vokilbashi entered with a long flogging stick in hand, accompanied by two burly soldiers. The flogging stick is a thick, sturdy piece of wood, with a wide leather strap loop in the middle to secure the ankles of the condemned. Two people would hold each end of the stick to keep the punished person’s legs elevated. Sometimes, instead of the whip, cherry wood sticks were used...
...The whipping was accompanied by the pleas and screams of the guilty soldiers. Of course, not all of the lashes hit their feet, and as soon as the floggers noticed that Hakimbashi’s attention was diverted, they would strike the stick onto the wooden block instead of the soles of the feet...
The soldiers kept screaming... In the meantime, I intervened, and Hakimbashi gestured with his hand to stop the whipping. With concern, I asked Hakimbashi, "Don’t you think this kind of flogging might cripple these poor souls?" He answered, "No, I’m sure they’ll be fine within two days, and there won’t be any trace of it. When I was a child, studying at the schoolhouse, I was often flogged by the teacher, and many lashes were struck on my feet. Not only me, but all the schoolchildren have had a taste of these lashes and know its bitter taste."
The conversation turned to the flogging of criminals by the king’s orders. Hakimbashi said that the government servants were responsible for the flogging. Most of those who were sentenced to be flogged would bribe the government servants to make them strike less painfully. These servants were strong and powerful in the court of Nasser al-Din Shah, and no one could endure ten full lashes of their strength, and if they struck too hard, there was a possibility that the punished person would not rise again or might be paralyzed.
On the other hand, the skin on the soles of the feet of the impoverished Iranians, due to walking barefoot, is very thick and more resistant to lashes. Some of them, even while wearing shoes, would take them off as soon as they reached smooth, non-stony ground, to prevent the soles from wearing out, and would carry their shoes under their arms.
