Iran Executes Gay Teenagers
Boys didn’t know sex was “punishable by death”
By OutRage!
News Service, July 21, 2005
Two gay teenagers were publicly executed in Iran on 19
July 2005 for the ‘crime’ of homosexuality.
The youths were hanged in Edalat (Justice) Square in the
city of Mashhad, in north east Iran. They were sentenced to death by Court No.
19.
Iran enforces Islamic Sharia law, which dictates the
death penalty for gay sex. One youth was aged 18 and the other was a minor
under the age of 18. They were only identified by their initials, M.A. and
A.M.
They admitted to having gay sex (probably under torture)
but claimed in their defence that most young boys had sex with each other and
that they were not aware that homosexuality was punishable by death.
Prior to their execution, the teenagers were held in
prison for 14 months and severely beaten with 228 lashes.
Their length of detention suggests that they committed
the so-called offences more than a year earlier, when they were possibly
around the age of 16.
Ruhollah Rezazadeh, the lawyer of the youngest boy (under
18), had appealed that he was too young to be executed and that the court
should take into account his tender age (believed to be 16 or 17). But the
Supreme Court in Tehran ordered him to be hanged. Under the Iranian penal
code, girls as young as nine and boys as young as 15 can be hanged.
Three other young gay Iranians are being hunted by the
police, but they have gone into hiding and cannot be found. If caught, they
will also face execution.
News of the two executions was reported by ISNA (Iranian
Students News Agency) on 19 July.
A later news story by Iran In Focus, allegedly based on
this original ISNA report, claimed the youths were executed for sexually
assaulting a 13 year old boy. But the ISNA report does not mention any sexual
assault.
A report of the executions on the website of the
respected democratic opposition movement, The National Council of Resistance
Of Iran, also makes no reference to a sexual assault.
The allegation of sexual assault may either be a trumped
up charge to undermine public sympathy for the youths (a frequent tactic by
the Islamist regime in Iran).
Or it may be that the 13 year old was a willing
participant but that Iranian law (like UK law) deems that no person of that
age is capable of sexual consent and that therefore any sexual contact is
automatically deemed in law to be a sex assault.
If the 13 year old was sexually assaulted, why was he not
identified and also put on trial (under Iranian law both the victims and
perpetrators of sexual crimes are punished)? “This is just the latest
barbarity by the Islamo-fascists in Iran,” said Peter Tatchell of the
London-based gay human rights group OutRage!
“The entire country is a gigantic prison, with Islamic
rule sustained by detention without trial, torture and state-sanctioned
murder.
“According to Iranian human rights campaigners, over
4,000 lesbians and gay men have been executed since the Ayatollahs seized
power in 1979. “Altogether, an estimated 100,000 Iranians have been put to
death over the last 26 years of clerical rule. The victims include women who
have sex outside of marriage and political opponents of the Islamist
government.
“Last August, a 16 year old girl, Atefeh Rajabi, was
hanged for ‘acts incompatible with chasity.’
“Britain’s Labour government is pursuing friendly
relations with this murderous regime, including aid and trade. We urge the
international community to treat Iran as a pariah state, break off diplomatic
relations, impose trade sanctions and give practical support to the democratic
and left opposition inside Iran,” said Mr Tatchell.
Urgent action:
Protest to the Iranian Ambassador:
info@iran-embassy.org.uk
Tel: 020 7225 3000 Fax: 020 7589 4440
Iranian Ambassador Embassy of Iran 16 Prince’s Gate
London SW7 1PT
If you live outside the UK, protest to the Iranian
Embassy in your country, and press your government to break off diplomatic
relations and impose trade sanctions against Iran.
Email this news release and photos to your friends.
Urge them to protest.
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