More than 30 Iranian male and female students were arrested, interrogated, and lashed 99 times on each on Thursday after authorities broke up a coed graduation party, according to the New York Times.
The group was apprehended at a villa in the city of Qazvin, located about 90 miles northwest of the capital, Tehran, Iranian news agency Mizan reported.
Qazvin prosecutor Esmail Sadeghi Niaraki told Mizan the women at the party were “half-naked,” meaning that they were not wearing proper covering as outlined in Iran's Islamic moral codes. The prosecutor said they were “dancing and jubilating.”
After authorities questioned them, each student was given 99 lashes as punishment.
“We hope this will be a lesson for those who break Islamic norms in private places,” Niaraki said.
Although lashing has technically been employed as a form of punishment since the 1979 revolution, in more recent years it has been used more as a threat, the Times reported.
The coed graduation party incident was one in a spate of similar crackdowns by the Iranian judiciary.
Police arrested 23 people at a coed party held in the town of Kerman, Iranian Republic News Agency reported Wednesday.
Authorities also raided a “singles home” in Semnan and arrested 97 people reportedly living alone, 10 of whom were women.