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.
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          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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          5/31/2011 Addressing Homophobia in Iran - Huma ...
          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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          5/31/2011 Addressing Homophobia in Iran - Huma...
          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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          5/31/2011 Addressing Homophobia in Iran - Huma ...
          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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          5/31/2011 Addressing Homophobia in Iran - Huma...
          “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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