No young man whipped for insulting Ahmadinejad

The Information and Publicity Center of Presidential Office on Tuesday refuted as “pure fabrication” reports by certain “anti-revolutionary media that a young man has been flogged for insulting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Presidential Office reiterated that no complaint has been lodged by the President or the government over the issue. It said the President has times and again announced explicitly that he is strongly against such approaches. Moreover, President Ahmadinejad, addressing a gathering of governors on Tuesday, rejected the reports, saying, “Since influential people can freely defame the government, I disapprove of flogging a young man for insulting me.'