Friday, August 5, 2016

Iran hangs an adolescent for being gay


Iran's regime executed a gay adolescent, Amnesty International reported, the first confirmed execution of someone convicted as a juvenile in the Islamic Republic in 2016.

Hassan Afshar was hanged in Arak Prison in Iran's Markazi Province, after he was convicted of  "forced male-to-male anal intercourse", the NGO said in a statement. He was a 17-year-old high school student when he was arrested. 

Consensual homosexual conduct remains illegal under Iran’s Sharia law and is punished with public flogging or even execution. While the Islamic State throws gays from rooftops, the Islamic Republic of Iran hangs them.

“Iran has proved that its sickening enthusiasm for putting juveniles to death, in contravention of international law, knows no bounds", said Magdalena Mughrabi, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International.

"He had no access to a lawyer and the judiciary rushed through the investigation and prosecution, convicting and sentencing him to death within two months of his arrest as though they could not execute him quickly enough”, Mughrabi added.

According to a 2008 British Wikileaks dispatch, Iran executed between 4,000 to 6,000 gays and lesbians between the start of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 to 2008. 

With this execution, Iranian authorities have demonstrated once again their callous disregard for human rights.

At the same time, the execution of 20-year-old Iranian youth Alireza Tajiki, which had been scheduled for 3 August, has been postponed again following renewed public pressure. Despite this, Alireza Tajiki, who was 15 years old when arrested, remains at risk of execution as the authorities have yet to quash his death sentence and grant him a fair retrial. 

Stop the killings!

2 comments:

  1. Very few progressive news sources are covering the ongoing murders Iranian LGBT men, no matter what the age. Amnesty International estimates that 4,000 - 6,000 have been murdered since the islamic revolution simply for being gay, and this is a conservative estimate. These executions are carried out publically throughout the islamic world in other countries including Saudi Arabia. The lack of interest in the Western Media, and in places like College Campuses throughout Europe and the United States -- and among LGBT groups themselves is something that is very sad. Pride marches may have very vocal groups that demand rights for others in the Middle East, but not for gay people themselves. These poor teenagers in Iran (there are others who will be executed soon) have no advocates for their rights, and Iran can simply murder whomever they please with impunity.

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  2. Thanks for your comment Eddi! always very informative and really interesting

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