Egale Statement regarding Recent Iran Executions

August 17, 2005

In Iran, two youths, Mahmoud Asgari (age eighteen) and Ayaz Marhoni (age nineteen), were put to death on July 19 after they were found guilty of sexually assaulting a thirteen-year-old boy some fourteen months earlier. One of the youths was seventeen at the time of the offense.

Before the two youths were put to death, each also received 228 lashes for theft, disturbing public order, and consuming alcohol.

Despite reports circulated by numerous groups, and the recent condemnation by some governments, including the Netherlands and Sweden, of the executions of “two gay teenagers”, there is no conclusive information which suggests that the two young men were put to death based on consensual homosexual sex. Unfortunately, it is unlikely we will ever know what actually happened.

We do know that Iran is not a safe place for LGBT people. The UK LGBT group OutRage! states that Iran executes lesbians and gays, and that the Iranian government has executed 4,000 homosexuals since 1979, according to estimates in the mid-1990s by the exiled Iranian gay rights group, Homan. OutRage! also states that the Iranian government often pins false charges on people in order to discredit them and discourage public protests.

However, despite no conclusive evidence of targeting gay sex, Iran did execute a minor, since at least one of the young men was a minor at the time of the crime. This is a violation of human rights law. Iran, a state party to both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is obligated to refrain from the execution of any person under the age of 18 for any crime. Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs has condemned Iran for this (see below).

Egale will continue to monitor this situation. Egale also calls on the government of Iran to uphold its obligations under international law to refrain from any future imposition of the death penalty as punishment for crimes committed by juveniles and to end any persecution of LGBT people.

Sources: Human Rights Watch (www.hrw.org), IGLHRC (www.iglhrc.org) and OutRage! (http://outrage.nabumedia.com/).

Statement by Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs:

Minister Pettigrew Calls on New Iranian Government to Break with Past OFfences

August 5, 2005 (4:15 p.m. EDT)
No. 141

Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew today expressed concern over Iran’s human rights situation and its intention to resume uranium conversion at its facility in Isfahan as the country’s new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, assumes office:

“As Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad assumes the office of President of the Islamic Republic of Iran and appoints his new government, we call on Iran to turn words into action and honour its commitments to both its people and the international community.

“We are extremely concerned over the deterioration of the human rights situation in Iran as underlined in a recent report on Iran’s judicial system by Tehran’s Chief Justice. We deplore Iran’s continued refusal to reopen the investigation into the brutal murder of Zahra Kazemi. We protest the recent arrest of lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani, following his July 25, 2005, court appearance on behalf of the Kazemi family, and we call for his immediate release. Likewise, we protest the incarceration of respected journalist Akbar Ganji and call for his immediate and unconditional release. We condemn the recent hanging of two teenagers and encourage Iran to respect its obligations as a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. We further call attention to the persecution of minorities in Iran, including members of the Baha’i faith. [emphasis added]

“As no real improvement in Iran’s human rights conditions has been noted to date, consultations have begun between Canada and its like-minded partners regarding a possible new resolution on Iran’s human rights situation before the UN General Assembly in the fall of 2005.

“Iran’s nuclear program also remains of great concern, especially its recent decision to resume uranium conversion. Such action not only would violate Iran’s agreement with the E3 nations to suspend such activities during negotiations, but would ignore International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors resolutions on Iran’s nuclear program. We urge Iran to continue its negotiations for a long-term resolution of this issue, and to participate constructively in the special IAEA Board of Governors meeting next week. If this issue is not resolved, Canada sees no alternative but to support referral of the matter to the UN Security Council.

“Only meaningful change by President Ahmadinejad’s new government on Iran’s position on human rights and nuclear proliferation can lead to an improvement in our relationship. Further to our announcement of May 17, 2005, the Government of Canada will continue to limit contact with the Iranian government. We hope, however, that Iran’s new president will usher in an era of change that will enable us to rebuild our relationship.”

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For further information, media representatives may contact:

Sébastien Théberge
Director of Communications
Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs
(613) 995-1851

Media Relations Office
Foreign Affairs Canada
(613) 995-1874
http://www.international.gc.ca

Human Rights Watch: Letter to the President of Iran and the Head of the Judiciary:

July 27, 2005

His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi Shahroodi
Justice Ministry Bldg.
Pazdah-Khordad (Ark) Sq.
Tehran, Iran

By fax: 98 21 222 90 151

Your Excellency:

We write to express our grave concern over the July 19 public hanging in Mashhad of two people for crimes they were found to have committed while at least one of them was under the age of eighteen. The continued practice of executing juvenile offenders—as well as the imposition of sentences of flogging, which constitutes torture—places Iran in violation of its international legal obligations. We urge you to bring an end to these practices and to support legislation barring the execution of sentences of death on people for crimes committed before age eighteen.

Two young men, Mahmoud A. and Ayaz M., were hanged in public in Mashhad on July 19, 2005. Press reports indicate that they were executed for sexually assaulting a thirteen-year-old boy fourteen months earlier. One of the accused was seventeen years old at the time of the alleged crime; the other was apparently seventeen or eighteen. Each victim also received 228 lashes for theft, disturbing public order, and consuming alcohol.

The practice of executing people for crimes they committed while juveniles remains common in Iran. In 2004, Iran executed four people for such crimes, and there are currently at least thirty juveniles facing sentences of death. Human Rights Watch has confirmed the names and ages at the time of offense of five juvenile offenders under sentence of death in Iran: Milad Bakhtiari, 17 years old; Hussein Haghi, 16 years old; Hussein Taranj, 17 years old; Farshad Saeedi, 17 years old; Saeed Khorrami, 16 years old.

Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment in all circumstances because of its cruel and inhumane nature. Human rights principles and protections are founded upon respect for the inherent dignity of all human beings and the inviolability of the human person. These principles cannot be reconciled with the death penalty, a form of punishment that is unique in its barbarity and finality. The intrinsic fallibility of all criminal justice systems assures that even when full due process of law is respected, innocent persons may be executed.

In particular, in imposing sentences of death on people for crimes committed before the age of eighteen, Iran flouts clear and specific human rights obligations. Article 6.5 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) bars the imposition of the death penalty for such offenses. Article 37(a) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child contains the same prohibition and also bars the imposition of life sentences without parole for juvenile offenses. These provisions reflect the reality that children are different from adults. They lack the experience, judgement, maturity, and restraint of an adult.

Iran is a party to both treaties—it ratified the ICCPR without reservation and the Convention on the Rights of the Child subject to a general reservation of “ the right not to apply any provisions or articles of the Convention that are incompatible with Islamic Laws and the international legislation in effect.”

Both treaties forbid the imposition of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes that children have the right to protection from all forms of violence. It is not clear that Iran interprets its reservation to apply to these provisions, but to the extent that it does, the reservation is invalid. A state may not formulate a reservation that is incompatible with the object and purpose of a treaty. As the Committee on the Rights of the Child has repeatedly emphasized, both the juvenile death penalty and corporal punishment in the penal system are incompatible with the convention. Accordingly, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its January 2005 review of Iran’s compliance with the treaty, urged the government

“to take the necessary steps to immediately suspend the execution of all death penalties imposed on persons for having committed a crime before the age of 18, to take the appropriate legal measures to convert them to penalties in conformity with the provisions of the Convention and to abolish the death penalty as a sentence imposed on persons for having committed crimes before the age of 18, as required by article 37 of the Convention”.

It has also called upon Iran “to take all the necessary measures to ensure that persons who committed crimes while under 18 are not subjected to any form of corporal punishment and to immediately suspend the imposition and the execution of sentences of amputation, flogging, stoning and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

Iran ‘s Majlis has for four years considered legislation which would amend Article 1210 of the civil code to prohibit executions for crimes committed under the age of eighteen. We urge you to support such legislation and to end all forms of torture, including amputation, flogging, and stoning, imposed as criminal penalties.

Sincerely,

Hadi Ghaemi Michael Bochenek
Iran Researcher Counsel
Middle East and North Africa Division Children’s Rights Division

Egale Canada ©2011

Canada's LGBT human rights organization: advancing equality, diversity, education, and justice.