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Gays Deserve Torture, Death Penalty, Iranian Minister Says
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Homosexuals deserve to be executed or tortured and possibly both, an Iranian
leader told British MPs during a private meeting at a peace conference, The
Times has learned.
Mohsen Yahyavi is the highest-ranked politician to admit that Iran believes
in the death penalty for homosexuality after a spate of reports that gay
youths were being hanged.
President Ahmadinejad, questioned by students in New York two months ago
about the executions, dodged the issue by suggesting that there were no gays
in his country.
Britain regularly challenges Iran about its gay hangings, stonings and
executions of adulterers and perceived moral criminals, Foreign and
Commonwealth Office (FCO) papers show.
The latest row involves a woman hanged this June in the town of Gorgan after
becoming pregnant by her brother. He was absolved after expressing his
remorse. Britain said that this demonstrated the unequal treatment of men
and women in law and breached Iran's pledge to restrict the death penalty to
the most serious crimes.
A series of reported executions of gays, including two underage boys whose
public hanging was posted on the internet, has alarmed human rights
campaigners.
The Pet Shop Boys dedicated Fundamental, their Grammy-nominated album, to
Mahmoud Asqari and Ayad Marhouni, who were hanged in Justice Square in
Mashhad in 2005. Graphic photographs of the execution of the youths, who
were under 18 when arrested, were released by the Iranian Students News
Agency.
Gay rights groups in Britain, such as Outrage!, accuse Iran of cloaking
executions for homosexuality with bogus charges for more serious crimes.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, the FCO released papers to The Times
about the death penalty being used in Iran for homosexuality, adultery and
sex outside marriage.
Minutes taken by an official describe a meeting between British and Iranian
MPs at the Inter-Parliamentary Union, a peace body, in May. When the Britons
raised the hangings of Asqari and Marhouni, the leader of the Iranian
delegation, Mr Yahyavi, a member of his parliament's energy committee, was
unflinching. He "explained that according to Islam gays and lesbianism were
not permitted," the record states. "He said that if homosexual activity is
in private there is no problem, but those in overt activity should be
executed [he initially said tortured but changed it to executed]. He argued
that homosexuality is against human nature and that humans are here to
reproduce. Homosexuals do not reproduce."
Nicole Pichet, a researcher who also took notes of the gathering, told The
Times that the discussion began with British MPs discussing the underage gay
hangings. Mr Yahyavi responded by saying homosexuality was to blame for a
lot of diseases such as Aids.
Ann Clwyd, the Labor MP and head of Britain's delegation, said yesterday:
"It is of great concern that these attitudes persist and we made it clear
what we felt."
Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen and
Nigeria apply the death penalty for homosexuality, according to the
International Lesbian and Gay Association.
Sharia's Victims
2005
- Homosexuals Farbod Mostaar and Ahmad Chooka sentenced to death. Iran said
Chooka had kidnapped, knifed and raped a student
- A woman called Soghra was sentenced to stoning for adultery and being an
accomplice to her husband's murder
- Two men executed in public after being found guilty of a homosexual
relationship. A newspaper said they were convicted of sodomy, rape and
kidnapping
- Zhila Izadi, 13, sentenced to stoning after becoming pregnant with her
brother's child
2006
- Malek Ghorbany sentenced to stoning for adultery
- Leila Qomi sentenced to stoning for adultery and assisting a man who
killed her husband. He received 100 lashes
2007
- Jafar Kiana stoned for adultery. His female lover Mokarrameh Ebrahimi
sentenced to the same fate
Source: Foreign and Commonwealth Office documents released under Freedom of
Information Act
Gays Deserve Torture, Death Penalty, Iranian Minister Says
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Homosexuals deserve to be executed or tortured and possibly both, an Iranian
leader told British MPs during a private meeting at a peace conference, The
Times has learned.
Mohsen Yahyavi is the highest-ranked politician to admit that Iran believes
in the death penalty for homosexuality after a spate of reports that gay
youths were being hanged.
President Ahmadinejad, questioned by students in New York two months ago
about the executions, dodged the issue by suggesting that there were no gays
in his country.
Britain regularly challenges Iran about its gay hangings, stonings and
executions of adulterers and perceived moral criminals, Foreign and
Commonwealth Office (FCO) papers show.
The latest row involves a woman hanged this June in the town of Gorgan after
becoming pregnant by her brother. He was absolved after expressing his
remorse. Britain said that this demonstrated the unequal treatment of men
and women in law and breached Iran's pledge to restrict the death penalty to
the most serious crimes.
A series of reported executions of gays, including two underage boys whose
public hanging was posted on the internet, has alarmed human rights
campaigners.
The Pet Shop Boys dedicated Fundamental, their Grammy-nominated album, to
Mahmoud Asqari and Ayad Marhouni, who were hanged in Justice Square in
Mashhad in 2005. Graphic photographs of the execution of the youths, who
were under 18 when arrested, were released by the Iranian Students News
Agency.
Gay rights groups in Britain, such as Outrage!, accuse Iran of cloaking
executions for homosexuality with bogus charges for more serious crimes.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, the FCO released papers to The Times
about the death penalty being used in Iran for homosexuality, adultery and
sex outside marriage.
Minutes taken by an official describe a meeting between British and Iranian
MPs at the Inter-Parliamentary Union, a peace body, in May. When the Britons
raised the hangings of Asqari and Marhouni, the leader of the Iranian
delegation, Mr Yahyavi, a member of his parliament's energy committee, was
unflinching. He "explained that according to Islam gays and lesbianism were
not permitted," the record states. "He said that if homosexual activity is
in private there is no problem, but those in overt activity should be
executed [he initially said tortured but changed it to executed]. He argued
that homosexuality is against human nature and that humans are here to
reproduce. Homosexuals do not reproduce."
Nicole Pichet, a researcher who also took notes of the gathering, told The
Times that the discussion began with British MPs discussing the underage gay
hangings. Mr Yahyavi responded by saying homosexuality was to blame for a
lot of diseases such as Aids.
Ann Clwyd, the Labor MP and head of Britain's delegation, said yesterday:
"It is of great concern that these attitudes persist and we made it clear
what we felt."
Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen and
Nigeria apply the death penalty for homosexuality, according to the
International Lesbian and Gay Association.
Sharia's Victims
2005
- Homosexuals Farbod Mostaar and Ahmad Chooka sentenced to death. Iran said
Chooka had kidnapped, knifed and raped a student
- A woman called Soghra was sentenced to stoning for adultery and being an
accomplice to her husband's murder
- Two men executed in public after being found guilty of a homosexual
relationship. A newspaper said they were convicted of sodomy, rape and
kidnapping
- Zhila Izadi, 13, sentenced to stoning after becoming pregnant with her
brother's child
2006
- Malek Ghorbany sentenced to stoning for adultery
- Leila Qomi sentenced to stoning for adultery and assisting a man who
killed her husband. He received 100 lashes
2007
- Jafar Kiana stoned for adultery. His female lover Mokarrameh Ebrahimi
sentenced to the same fate
Source: Foreign and Commonwealth Office documents released under Freedom of
Information Act
