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Addressing Homophobia in Iran
5/31/2011
Addressing Homophobia in Iran - Huma ...
Addressing Homophobia in Iran
May 15, 2008
Other recent newsletters
“It is painful for me to see how my fellow Muslims
deny and condemn the existence of homosexuality
within Islam and refuse to accept me as a member of
their community.”
- - Arsham Parsi, Founder, Iranian Queer Organization.
Philadelphia, May 1, 2008
“The punishment for sodomy [ lavat ] where
penetration has occurred is death, and the method of
execution is at the discretion of the Sharia judge.”
- - Article 110, Islamic Republic Penal Code
Washington, DC, 17 May 2008
On May 17, 2008, as International Day Against Homophobia
is celebrated in countries around the world, the Islamic
Republic of Iran continues to violate the dignity, the privacy,
and the right to life of its lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgendered (LGBT) citizens.
In Iran, same sex sexual acts between consenting adults are
crimes. Since 1979, thousands of Iranians have been
intimidated, harassed in their own homes, arrested, tortured,
subjected to cruel corporal punishment, and executed. Some
are diagnosed with psychological disorders while others are
forced to deny their sexual orientation or induced to repent
as sinners. In all cases they are compelled to live in fear
behind closed doors because of their sexual orientations or
gender identities.
Articles 108 to 134 of the Islamic Republic's Penal Code
impose specific punishments - - ranging from 60 lashes to
execution - - for men and women found guilty of
homosexual acts. Article 123, for example, reads: “If two
men, unrelated to one another, lie, without necessity, naked
under the same cover, they will each be punished by up to 99
lashes of the whip.” Article 110 imposes the death penalty for
sodomy. These penalties are maintained in the revised draft
of the penal code submitted to the parliament for approval in
December 2007.
iran rights.org/engl ish/newsletter-4.php
Iran: In Suo ort of the International
Campaign Against the Death Penalty
February 22, 2011
Iran Uses the Holidays to Announce the
Imminent Execution of a Student
December 24, 2010
Iran Cannot Hide the Truth Behind
Sakineh
December 10, 2010
Iran: A Reflection on the Death Penalty
and a Failed Anti-Narcotic Campaign
October 31, 2010
Iran's Interrupted Lives
October 1, 2010
Iran's leadership guilty of crimes against
humanity
June 8, 2010
Three Iranian human rights activists
receive the Lech Walesa Prize
September 29, 2009
Terror in Buenos Aires : The Islamic
Republic's Forgotten Crime Against
Humanity
July 18, 2009
Authorization Denied: The high cost of
the public expression of dissent in Iran
July 9, 2009
Neither Free Nor Fair, Elections in the
Islamic Republic of Iran
June 12, 2009
>> And more.. .
Visit the Human Rights and
Democracy Library
International Human Rights
Organizations' Reports on Human Rights
Abuses in Iran
Testimonies of Victims and Perpetrators
1/6
5/31/2011 Addressing Homophobia in Iran - Huma . ..
of Human Rights Abuses in Iran
Iran's Pro-democracy Voices
Over the years, Iranian authorities have confirmed in their
statements that Iran sentences individuals to death for >> And more.. .
homosexual sex. In 1991, for example, in its reply to
inquiries made by a UN special representative, the Iranian
government stated that: “according to the Islamic Shariat,
homosexuals who confess to their acts and insist on [ their
homosexuality] are condemned to death.” [ l] More recently,
in May 2007, the head of a parliamentary delegation visiting
the United Kingdom stated, in response to inquiries by British
MP5, that if homosexual activity is in private, there is no
problem, but that those engaging in overt activity should be
executed. He also said that homosexuality is against human
nature. [ 2]
The Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation (ABF) has
documented at least 146 cases of executions of individuals
charged with a “homosexual act” since 1979. In 1980 in
Tabriz, for example, Mr. Nasser Farhati and four other
individuals were executed for “repeated sodomy, so much so
that this immoral and filthy act had become like a chronic
disease with them.” In 1982, an un-named individual was
executed for “the hideous act of sodomy and adultery” in
Mashad.
In 1990, the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran reported on the
execution of a Mr. Mansuri in Arak and of five other un-
named individuals. In 2005, Mr. Mokhtar N . was found guilty
of a “homosexual act.” He was executed in public in Bahonar
Square in Gorgan.
ABF's list of executions, which is far from being exhaustive,
includes individuals who have been executed for political or
other unrelated reasons and whose charges include a
homosexual offense. Mr. Makwan Moludzadeh , a 20-year-old
from Kurdistan, was sentenced to death and executed for
homosexual acts committed at the age of 13, in violation of
Iranian and international law. His execution may have been
prompted by the reported enmity of the local prosecutor.
(See also Mr. Mohammad Sa'id Beizi and Mohammad Jamil
Hosseini) .
The list does not include, however, scores of individuals
executed for allegedly committing homosexual rape. Among
these are believed to have been homosexuals killed based on
trumped-up charges, such as in the highly publicized case of
the teenaaers in Mashad who received 228 lashes each
before being hanged in public in 2005. Investigating the
accuracy of these rape charges is difficult and will not be
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possible as long as the Iranian authorities deny defendants'
basic rights, such as the right to an attorney during
interrogation or the right not to incriminate oneself, and as
long as they refuse independent human rights monitors
access to trials.
ABF and other human rights and LGBT rights groups have
documented many instances in which individuals suspected of
homosexuality have been arrested and flogged [ 3]. (See
Amir, and Farshad and Farnam ) They note that such corporal
punishments have increased noticeably since 2003.
In July 2005, after an inconclusive medical report, a court in
Esfahan sentenced five young men to 75 lashes apiece and
three years of exile to Khouzistan province for “having
confessed one time to a homosexual act.” [ 4] According to
Arsham Parsi, founder of Iranian Queer Organization, “being
flogged has become routine for many Iranian gays who may
even express relief at the fact that they were ‘only sentenced
to corporal punishment.'
Twenty-nine years of institutionalized violence and
discrimination have driven Iranian gays and transsexuals to
an underground life marked by the fear of being caught. It
has also made them easy targets of violence in recent
government campaigns against “hooligans”. In the summer
of 2007, the Revolutionary Tribunal of Shiraz sentenced
several “hooligans” to prison and other punishments. Among
them were two men whose punishment included 175 lashes
each for homosexual acts. [ 5J More recently, in March 2008,
another “morality campaign” led to the arrest of 30 male
guests at a party in Esfahan. Security forces broke into a
private home, and the guests were arrested, detained for
weeks with no access to legal counsel, and reportedly
examined for evidence of homosexual sex. [ 6]
The sad reality of the discriminatory and violent treatment of
sexual minorities in Iran contrasts starkly with the Islamic
Republic's glowing claims of providing equality to its citizens:
- “The judiciary power of the Islamic Republic has also
worked out a bill of citizens rights. One of the main principles
incorporated in this bill ensures the enjoyment of every
person of equal rights so that his individual rights and
freedoms are guaranteed irrespective of his ethnic origin and
other factors such as race, color, sex, etc...” [ 7]
Other official statements such as: “ [ I]n Iran, we don't have
homosexuals, like in your country. ... We don't have this
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phenomenon,” [ 8] only exacerbate the problems faced by
Iranians with a non-conforming sexual orientation or gender
identity. The authorities' efforts to address the issue by
providing certificates of mental disorder or encouraging sex
change operations are neither a sign of tolerance nor helpful.
While the state assistance to sex change operations is
reserved to transsexuals, many homosexuals may resort to
sex change operations in search of acceptance and to escape
violence.
A BBC documentary aired in February 2008 reported on the
exceptionally high number of sex change operations in Iran.
It contained interviews with several individuals who had had
or were about to undergo sex change operations. For the
most part, the interviewees justified their choice of resorting
to a painful, complicated, and potentially dangerous surgery
as a way to counter the lack of recognition in society or
harassment by authorities, rather than to address a
fundamental uneasiness with one's own gender.
Vida, who underwent sex change surgery, says: - “When I
was a boy...my father had to call for a cab to take me to
school. If, instead, I went out walking, the police, the
revolutionary guards, or the morality police would arrest me,
take me in, and treat me disrespectfully. ... As a boy, I
couldn't do anything. [ If someone bothered me, the
authorities would say] ‘Look at you, you're asking for it,' and
what could I say to that?” The reportedly high rate of
suicides following these operations and the difficulties of
integration for those who survive them underlines the need
for a different approach by the Iranian government and the
civil society. Such an approach should consist of
decriminalizing homosexuality completely and providing
equality of rights to sexual minority individuals.
The Iranian government should stop all violence against
individuals on the basis of sexual orientation and gender
identity and repeal the laws that criminalize their sexuality.
The reintegration of LGBT individuals into Iranian society can
hardly succeed if the State denies their existence, provides
them with certificates for psychological disorder, and outlaws
their relationships. Laws punishing consensual sexual
relationships between adults are discriminatory and violate
individuals' right to privacy under the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights, to which the Iranian government
is party since 1975. (UN Human Rights Committee in its
Toonen decision, 1994.)
Even when laws regarding same sex relationships are not
enforced in practice, they are stigmatizing and serve to
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perpetuate prejudices and discrimination against LGBT
individuals in society at large. Decades of violence,
discrimination, and exclusion have made Iranian LGBT's
vulnerable to violence within society and left them in need of
legal protection and visibility. Human rights activists inside
Iran, the reform-oriented media, and other civil society
actors can play a crucial role by including LGBT rights in their
campaigns for awareness and equality.
On the occasion of the International Day Against
Homophobia [ 9], ABF has translated into Farsi The
Yogyakarta Principles: On the Application of
International Human Rights Law in relation to Sexual
Orientation and Gender Identity. These principles were
drafted and adopted by a group of 29 distinguished experts in
the field of human rights law on November 9, 2006 in
Yogyakarta, Indonesia. [ 10 ] The introduction to the
Yogyakarta Principles highlights the “policing of sexuality” as
a key factor perpetuating “gender-based violence and gender
inequality.”
The Yocivakarta Principles emphasize the obligation of States
to implement human rights. They provide States, as well as
other actors, including national and international human
rights organizations, media, and the United Nations human
rights system, with comprehensive recommendations. By
making this valuable tool accessible in Farsi to a broad range
of actors in Iran, ABF hopes to contribute to a much needed
debate on Iranian homosexuals, bisexuals, and transsexuals
and their inherent rights to dignity and equality.
[ 1] United Nations, February 13, 1991. Quoted in UNHCR,
Chronology of events 1989-1994. Question and Answer
Research Papers.
[ 2] Times Online, November 13, 2007 quoting the minutes
taken by an official describing the meeting between British
and Iranian MPs.
[ 3] http://p plo.net/IRQO/Encilish/pages/119.htm
[ 4] Hamshahri newspaper, July 14, 2005
[ 5] Iranian Students News Agency, August 22, 2007
[ 6]
http : / fwww.hrw.or p/encilish/docs/2008/03/28/iran 18385.htm
Human Rights Watch's press release regarding this event
noted that in a similar raid in May 2007, 87 guests in a party
were arrested. Some were striDDed in the street and beaten
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“until their backs or faces were bloody”. Others were
detained, tried and sentenced to 80 lashes and heavy fines
for “facilitating immorality and sexual misconduct.”
[ 7] Answers to questions about the implementation of the
Durban Declaration... Letter of the Permanent Mission of the
Islamic Republic of Iran to the Anti-Discrimination Unit of the
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 14 March,
2008.
[ 8] Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of the Islamic Republic
of Iran. Columbia University, 24 September 2007.
[ 9] The date was chosen because it marks the anniversary of
the removal on May 17 1990 by the General Assembly of the
World Health Organization (WHO) of homosexuality from their
list of mental disorders.
[ 10] http://www.yogyakartaprinciples.org
Copyright © 2011, Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation I Back to toD
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