Iran executes gay teens

[Michael Allred]

From 365gay.com Newswire...
http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/07/072105iran.htm

Iranian Gay Teens Executed

(London) Two teenagers have been executed after a religious court found them them guilty of homosexuality according to pro-Democracy groups. The Iranian Students News Agency reports that the executions took place on July 19 in the northeastern city of Mashhad. One teen, ISNA says was 18, the other was a minor, believed to be 16 or 17. The organization ran a picture of what it said was the execution on its Web site.

The English language "Iran In Focus" also reported the executions, saying the teens were hanged in public in the city square. It quotes sources as saying the teens were executed for having sex with another minor but this could not be confirmed. The report does not name the victim. Under Sharia law the victim of a sexual assault must also be executed.

Both news services say that prior to their execution, the teenagers were held in prison for 14 months, severely beaten and given the lash 228 times. A report of the executions was also carried on the website of the respected democratic opposition movement, The National Council of Resistance Of Iran.

Ruhollah Rezazadeh, the lawyer for the younger teen reportedly had appealed the death sentence 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 reportedly being hunted by police, but they are said to have gone into hiding and cannot be found. If caught, they would also face execution.

The British LGBT rights group OutRage has called for sanctions against Iran. The organization has called for western states to break off diplomatic relations, impose trade sanctions and treat Iran as "a pariah state".

"This is just the latest barbarity by the Islamo-fascists in Iran,” said OutRage spokesperson Peter Tatchell. "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," said Tatchell.

Iran In Focus reports that members of Iran’s parliament are applauding the court for carrying out the death sentence on the teens.

"These individuals were corrupt. Their sentence was carried out with the approval of the judiciary and it served them right,” the publication quotes Ali Asgari, a member of the Majlis Party Legal Affairs Committee.

At least three men have been sentenced over the past month to death by stoning in Nigeria which also follows Sharia law in several provinces.

In March a gay couple was beheaded in a public execution in Saudi Arabia. The pair had been convicted of killing a blackmailer who had threatened to expose them to authorities. Hundreds of other gays have been rounded up by Saudi authorities in recent months.

and they say Muslims are unfairly covered in the media.....

[RFS62]

wow

[Ravenlord]

has anyone actually read the Qu'ran here?

[Michael Allred]

Has the Bush administration condemed this yet?

[Jaycint]

Unbelievable. Can't we maybe just, oh say just for the heck of it, send over a couple covert ops guys and whack all the clerics that are actually running that terrorist state? Nothing stupid like a full scale invasion or war (we have proof to the west that that is problematic) but maybe just a well place bullet behind the ear?

[Ravenlord]

Unbelievable. Can't we maybe just, oh say just for the heck of it, send over a couple covert ops guys and whack all the clerics that are actually running that terrorist state? Nothing stupid like a full scale invasion or war (we have proof to the west that that is problematic) but maybe just a well place bullet behind the ear?

...Great nations built from the bones of the dead
With mud and straw, blood and sweat,
You know your worth when your enemies
Praise your architecture of aggression

Ensuing power vacuum
A toppled leader dies
His body fuels the power fire
And the flames rise to the sky...

excerpt "Architecture of Aggression" by Megadeth

[Unassisted]

Has the Bush administration condemed this yet?

Hope you're not holding your breath waiting for that to happen. Condi's been busy this week keeping NBC's Andrea Mitchell from being hauled off to Sudanese prison for asking tough questions of the dictator over in The Sudan. I imagine that took up all of her spare time.

[Michael Allred]

Hope you're not holding your breath waiting for that to happen. Condi's been busy this week keeping NBC's Andrea Mitchell from being hauled off to Sudanese prison for asking tough questions of the dictator over in The Sudan. I imagine that took up all of her spare time.

I was more or less being sarcastic with my comment. I would never expect Bush and co. to say a thing about it lest they appear to condone a "sinful lifestyle."

[Hobo]

Under Sharia law the victim of a sexual assault must also be executed.

Under the Iranian penal code, girls as young as nine and boys as young as 15 can be hanged.

Wow, I don't condem anyone's belief system, but c'mon.

[RFS62]

Wow, I don't condem anyone's belief system, but c'mon.

Hobo, I love your sig line. That's good advice, and I plan to take it.

[bottom_feeder]

Unbelievable. Can't we maybe just, oh say just for the heck of it, send over a couple covert ops guys and whack all the clerics that are actually running that terrorist state? Nothing stupid like a full scale invasion or war (we have proof to the west that that is problematic) but maybe just a well place bullet behind the ear?

I apologize if you are only joking, but how would you like it if some Iranians murdered our government leaders because they thought we were immoral? I agree with you that what Iran did was wrong, but America has no right to declare itself as policeman of the entire world. I certainly don't want to risk the lives of anymore of our servicemen to try to "save" these backwards Arab countries.

Edit: I don't want to offend anyone, but why do Americans feel as though they have to administer Clint Eastwood justice everywhere? We have enough problems of our own. I hope I didn't make you mad JayCint. I just wanted to get that out. I know you were probably just mad at the atrocity. I agree that it is an atrocity.

[Jaycint]

I apologize if you are only joking, but how would you like it if some Iranians murdered our government leaders because they thought we were immoral? I agree with you that what Iran did was wrong, but America has no right to declare itself as policeman of the entire world. I certainly don't want to risk the lives of anymore of our servicemen to try to "save" these backwards Arab countries.

Edit: I don't want to offend anyone, but why do Americans feel as though they have to administer Clint Eastwood justice everywhere? We have enough problems of our own. I hope I didn't make you mad JayCint. I just wanted to get that out. I know you were probably just mad at the atrocity. I agree that it is an atrocity.

I'm not kidding at all. While my initial comments might have been tinged with anger at the specific atrocity I still wouldn't mind seeing some sort of regime change there. Iran is the biggest state sponsor of terror in the world. Couple that with murdering people because of their sexual orientation as well as murdering the victims of rapes and I would have no problem with a couple of clerics taking a long dirt nap. I don't agree with the U.S. "policing" the world in general but I'll make an exception in this case.

[Mutaman]

"In political developments on Saturday, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari led a high-level delegation to Iran for a three-day trip intended to mend relations. The new Iraqi government has sought to repair ties with Iran and end tensions that peaked during the Iran-Iraq war from 1980 to 1988. Prime Minister Jaafari's three-day visit is his first to Iran in his new official role"

[registerthis]

I'm not kidding at all. While my initial comments might have been tinged with anger at the specific atrocity I still wouldn't mind seeing some sort of regime change there. Iran is the biggest state sponsor of terror in the world. Couple that with murdering people because of their sexual orientation as well as murdering the victims of rapes and I would have no problem with a couple of clerics taking a long dirt nap. I don't agree with the U.S. "policing" the world in general but I'll make an exception in this case.

Well, the problem is that iran is far from alone in the world when it comes to gruesome acts committed against their own people. Should we invade every African nation that sponsors female genital mutilation? How about every isalmic nation whose people administer tribal justice, including stoning women who are considered adulterers? How about east Timor, where during the late 90s there was forced conscription into the rebel army for children as young as 8, with punishment being death for those that resisted?

I'm in no way suggesting that Iran is right in their actions--quite the opposite, they are barbaric, and should be condemned in the harshest possible manner. And while it may *sound* good to imagine covert U.S. forces taking out the religious lawmakers who issue such edicts, the fact is the problem runs substantially deeper than simply a few conservative religious blowhards in their government, the U.S. has never been one to adopt humanitarian missions simply for their own sake, and if they did the world offers no shortage of opportunities. It's understandable to want to eliminate people who condone such actions, but not practical or feasible.

[919191]

Unbelievable. Can't we maybe just, oh say just for the heck of it, send over a couple covert ops guys and whack all the clerics that are actually running that terrorist state? Nothing stupid like a full scale invasion or war (we have proof to the west that that is problematic) but maybe just a well place bullet behind the ear?

And then?