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A video that surfaced on social media in mid-September has ignited widespread anger across Iran after appearing to show multiple police officers physically assaulting and sexually humiliating a teenage boy inside a police station. The footage, posted on September 17, 2026, captures what experts describe as a rare visual record of a pattern of mistreatment that they say occurs routinely within the country's law enforcement system.
The recording shows at least five uniformed police officers along with one man wearing civilian clothing in a courtyard setting. Four of the officers are seen punching and kicking the detained teenager, while two others subject him to acts of a sexualized nature. At one point, an officer partially pulls down the boy's trousers as the others mock him, and two officers proceed to slap and grab his buttocks while continuing to taunt him.
The audio in the video is in Azeri, with Persian subtitles subsequently added. In the recorded exchange, an officer can be heard calling the teenager a thug and accusing him of threatening people with knives in the neighborhood. The same officer makes a crude remark about the boy's buttocks being white before stating that he will be raped at the police station. The teenager can be heard protesting, insisting he is not a thug and asking why he is being treated this way.
The day after the footage circulated, police authorities in East Azerbaijan province issued a statement claiming the incident dated back to June 4. According to their account, the teenager was arrested following a street fight and was 17 years old at the time. The statement did not clarify whether the boy had been formally charged or convicted in connection with that incident. Police also alleged the teenager had prior convictions for street fights, harassment, and drug dealing, while acknowledging that none of these claims justified the officers' conduct.
FRANCE 24 was able to verify the location of the recording by cross-referencing multiple sources, including other videos of police stations in Tabriz that had been shared on social media. The geolocation process identified the setting as the courtyard of Police Station No. 14, located in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood in the southwest of Tabriz. Architectural features visible in the footage, such as a blue entrance, a window, and distinctive structural details near ground level, matched those seen in other videos of the same facility published by official sources.
The emergence of the video prompted significant public outrage, both on social media and in Iranian media outlets. In response, Fars News, a news agency with close ties to the Revolutionary Guard Corps, published a video report titled "A glimpse of the Tabriz criminal's violent conduct." The report features interviews with individuals who claim they were attacked with a machete by the teenager seen in the footage, portraying him as a source of insecurity in the local community.
According to the police statement, all officers involved in the incident have been disciplined and suspended pending further notice, with any additional punishment contingent on a court ruling. However, the statement did not specify whether these disciplinary measures were taken before or after the video appeared on September 17, leaving open the question of whether the action was prompted by the footage becoming public.
Niki Mahjoub, an independent Iranian journalist based in Europe who has reported on social issues in Iran for over thirty years, told FRANCE 24 that such incidents reflect a broader pattern. She noted that police not only fail to conceal certain types of misconduct but sometimes display it openly. According to Mahjoub, parading individuals accused of violent crimes through cities while beating and publicly humiliating them is a common punishment reserved for those the authorities label as "thugs."
Mahjoub further explained that the situation has worsened in recent years. She pointed to authorities publishing videos showing suspects who were shot with live ammunition during arrest. She also highlighted an increase in cases of sexual harassment, though she acknowledged uncertainty about whether this reflects a genuine rise in frequency or simply greater visibility due to expanded documentation and sharing of such incidents.
The video's authenticity and the geolocation of the police station lend it unusual evidentiary weight in a context where documentation of abuse inside Iranian detention facilities is rare. The fact that the footage was recorded within a police compound, rather than in a street confrontation, makes it particularly significant as an illustration of what experts describe as systemic behavior rather than an isolated incident.
The teenager's age at the time of the incident, seventeen, places him within the protections of international standards governing the treatment of juveniles in detention. The nature of the abuse captured on camera, combining physical violence with sexualized humiliation, raises serious questions about accountability mechanisms within Iranian law enforcement and whether internal disciplinary processes can function independently of public pressure.
The Fars News report attempting to discredit the teenager has been characterized by observers as an effort to shift public attention away from the officers' actions and toward the detainee's alleged criminal history. This framing mirrors a broader pattern in Iranian state media of justifying harsh treatment of suspects by emphasizing their prior records, a tactic that critics say undermines the principle that all detainees are entitled to humane treatment regardless of their alleged offenses.
As of the publication of the FRANCE 24 report, it remained unclear what further legal or disciplinary consequences the officers might face. The case has drawn attention to the gap between official statements acknowledging improper conduct and the practical reality of accountability in a system where, according to journalists like Mahjoub, police misconduct often goes unpunished or is even publicly displayed.
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