Video shows Iranian police beating, sexually humiliating teenage detainee

In a video posted on social media on September 17, 2026, Iranian police officers are seen beating and sexually humiliating a teenage detainee in footage recorded at a police station in the Iranian province of East Azerbaijan. In one sequence, an officer pulls the boy’s trousers partly down as others mock him, while two officers slap and grab his buttocks. © Les Observateurs

A video posted in mid-September showing Iranian police officers beating and sexually harassing an arrested teenage boy has caused widespread outrage in Iran. Experts say such mistreatment of people accused of common crimes is frequent in Iran, but the footage provides rare visual evidence of what they describe as a recurring practice within the police force.

On September 17, 2026, a 78-second video was widely shared on social media. The footage appears to have been recorded by a police officer present at the scene. The Observers team geolocated the video to the courtyard of a police station in Tabriz, capital of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, where most inhabitants speak a dialect of the Azeri language.