Iranian law provides punishments up to death for homosexuality.
“Homosexuals deserve to be executed or tortured and possibly both,” an Iranian official Mohsen Yahyavi, told British MP’s in 2007.
Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni were two gay teens hanged by the regime in 2005.
Police in Esfahan, Iran arrested 30 men at a private party and have been holding the men in jail for four weeks without access to a lawyer.
The police examiner is looking for evidence that the men are homosexual.
Iran Press News reported:
The arrest of more than 30 men attending a party in a private home in the city of Esfahan signals renewed efforts by Iranian authorities to enforce “morality” codes, and highlights the fragility of basic rights in a country where police powers routinely undermine privacy, Human Rights Watch said today.
It urged Iranian authorities to release the men reportedly arrested in late February, and to drop charges against people accused of consensual homosexual conduct, drinking alcohol, and other related “morals” offenses.
“When police routinely break down doors to enforce a brand of morality, it means a line has been crossed to invade people’s privacy at any time,” said Joe Stork, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Iran’s repressive system of controlling peopleْs dress, behavior, and personal lives violates fundamental rights.”
Sources inside Iran report to Human Rights Watch that on February 28-29, police in Esfahan raided a private home and arrested 30 or more men attending a party. They have been jailed for almost four weeks without access to lawyers and without charge. Police reportedly referred them to a forensic medical examiner to look for “evidence” that they have engaged in homosexual conduct.
…Iranian law provides punishments up to death for penetrative same-sex sexual activity between men on the first conviction, and punishes non-penetrative activity with up to 100 lashes. Homosexual conduct between women is punishable with death on the fourth conviction.
