Iranian Official Tells Brits Gays Should Be Executed  | News | Advocate.com

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November 14, 2007
Iranian Official Tells Brits Gays Should Be Executed

A high-ranking Iranian leader told members of United Kingdom’s parliament at a peace conference in May that gays deserve to be executed or tortured, according to a story in The Times of London.

Mohsen Yahyavi, a member of Iran’s parliament, is the most prominent politician to admit that Iran enforces capital punishment against gays, after multiple reports alleged that gay youths in the country were being hanged.

The controversial comments arose while delegates discussed the 2005 public hanging of Mahmoud Asqari and Ayad Marhouni, who were both under 18 at the time of their arrest. A video of the execution was posted on the Internet, upsetting human rights activists.

In response, Yahyavi “explained that according to Islam gays and lesbianism were not permitted,” according to the meeting’s minutes. “He said that if homosexual activity is in private there is no problem, but those in overt activity should be executed (he initially said tortured but changed it to executed). He argued that homosexuality is against human nature and that humans are here to reproduce.”

He also argued that homosexuality has caused the spread of several diseases, such as AIDS.

Ann Clwyd, a member of the U.K. parliament, told The Times that Yahyavi’s comments caused alarm among delegates.

“It is of great concern that these attitudes persist, and we made it clear what we felt,” she said. (The Advocate)

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