This was probably not the best way to impress fellow peace activists…
An Iranian minister told British peace activists that if there were any gays in Iran they should be tortured and hanged.
MP from Boroujerd, Mohsen Yahyavi might be construed as homophobe. (Press TV)
A high-ranking Iranian official admits during a peace conference that gays should be tortured or executed and possibly both.
Weasel Zippers and Times Online reported:
Homosexuals deserve to be executed or tortured and possibly both, an Iranian leader told British MPs during a private meeting at a peace conference, The Times has learnt.
Mohsen Yahyavi is the highest-ranked politician to admit that Iran believes in the death penalty for homosexuality after a spate of reports that gay youths were being hanged.
President Ahmadinejad, questioned by students in New York two months ago about the executions, dodged the issue by suggesting that there were no gays in his country.
Britain regularly challenges Iran about its gay hangings, stonings and executions of adulterers and perceived moral criminals, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) papers show.
The latest row involves a woman hanged this June in the town of Gorgan after becoming pregnant by her brother. He was absolved after expressing his remorse. Britain said that this demonstrated the unequal treatment of men and women in law and breached Iran’s pledge to restrict the death penalty to the most serious crimes.
A series of reported executions of gays, including two underage boys whose public hanging was posted on the internet, has alarmed human rights campaigners.
W Zip has more.
Since 1979, an estimated 4,000 gays and lesbians have been executed in Iran. They are, however, given a “choice of deathstyles.”
