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 Iranian Official Confirms Gay Executions
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: November 13, 2007 - 11:00 am ET
(London) In a meeting between Iranian and
British parliamentarians a high ranking Iranian politician has for the first
time acknowledged that the Islamic state upholds the death penalty for
homosexuality according to minutes of the meeting obtained by The Times
newspaper.
The disclosure came during a peace conference - the Inter-Parliamentary
Union - in May.
The Times obtained the minutes of the meeting
under Britain's freedom of information law.
LGBT rights groups have reported for more than a
year that gays were being executed but the government in Tehran has repeatedly
denied the public hangings were for homosexuality.
In 2005 two young men hanged in a public square
in northern Iran after were alleged to have been found guilty of homosexuality.
(story)
The government claimed they had been convicted of kidnapping and raping a male
teen.
In May a western LGBT organization for gay
Iranians says it has learned police have arrested as many as 87 gays at a
private house party. (story)
Some international gay rights groups believe that
more than 4,000 lesbians and gay men have been executed since the Ayatollahs
seized power in 1979.
During the May meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary
Union British MPs questioned Mohsen Yahyavi a member of his parliament’s energy
committee about the reports.
The minutes, The Times reports, show that Yahyavi
responded that gays deserve to be executed or tortured and possibly both,
"[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."
British Members of Parliament said they were
shocked by Yahyavi's attitude.
"It is of great concern that these attitudes persist and we made it clear what
we felt," Ann Clwyd, a Labor MP and head of Britain’s delegation told The
Times.
In September President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad drew
jeers and laughter during a speech at Columbia University when he declared there
were no homosexuals in Iran. (story)
"In Iran we don't have homosexuals like you
do in your country. We do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who's
told you that we have it," Ahmadinejad said.
©365Gay.com 2007
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