Kurdish men in Iran have dressed in drag after a court ordered a man to walk down the street in women’s clothing in an attempt to humiliate him.

More than 150 men have posted photographs of themselves in traditional female Kurdish clothing as part of the ‘Kurd men for Equality’ campaign against the sexist nature of sentence.

The campaign’s tagline is: ‘Being a woman is not a way for humiliation or punishment.’

Witnesses said he was forced to walk in public in a red tchador, a type of traditional women’s clothing.

Journalist Saman Rasoulpour told Gay Star News: ‘[In] this way, authorities are able to both demean the accused and deliver a warning to the public.

‘This is the first time in Iran that an accused is paraded in women’s clothes in the streets to humiliate him. It is unprecedented anywhere in Iran.’

The campaign was started on Facebook on April 18 and now has more than 9,000 fans and features messages of support from campaigners around the world.

Women have joined the campaign by dressing in men’s clothes.

In response 17 members of Iran’s parliament signed a letter sent to the Justice Ministry condemning the sentence as ‘humiliating to Muslim women,’ with one MP criticising it during a session of parliament.