Group Urges Iran
to Release Gay Prisoners

A human rights group is urging Iranian police to release more than 30 men who were arrested at a house party for allegedly engaging in gay sexual conduct, drinking alcohol, and other activities that violate Iran's moral codes. Iranian police raided the house in February, Human Rights Watch reported on Friday. The men have been in jail since their arrest without access to attorneys and without charge.

"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," Joe Stork, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said in a press release. "Iran's repressive system of controlling people's dress, behavior, and personal lives violates fundamental rights."

According to the organization, Iranian authorities have been aggressively cracking down by arresting violators of the nation's moral codes in the past year.

In May 2007, police raided a party to arrest 87 people in an attempt to enforce dress codes and conduct. The arrestees included four women and at least eight people whom they accused of wearing clothing appropriate only for the opposite sex. According to the report, police stripped many of those arrested down to the waist in the street, and beat them bloody on their backs and faces. Some reported broken bones. Of those arrested, two dozen men were put on trial, where they were found guilty of "facilitating immorality and sexual misconduct," as well as possessing and drinking alcohol. Many were sentenced to up to 80 lashes and to fines ranging from $1,000 to 5,000. The verdicts are under appeal and have not yet been enforced. (The Advocate)