Petrelis Files

Iran in the Blade; HRC on the Death Penalty

Jay Smith Brown
Human Rights Campaign
Communications Dept.
Washington, DC

Hi Jay:

Thanks for sending the Blade blog story. It appears as though the Blade posted this story and later updated it to delete certain parts and insert new information, so I appreciate having the original version.

Your note does not address a crucial point I raised in my phone chat with you and Joe Solmonese's assistant Brad, which was a request to the Human Rights Campaign to issue an Action Alert, urging members to call, email, fax and snail mail Secretary Rice and request that she condemn Iran's execution of two gay teens.

So I will repeat my question: Can HRC put out an Action Alert calling on the U.S. State Department to loudly decry the killing of two gay teens in Iran last week?

Also, it is my understanding that HRC is officially neutral on the abolishment of the death penalty. As a queer anti-death penalty activist, I'd like to know if indeed your organization is neither for nor against capitol punishment, or, if HRC has joined with thousands of human rights organizations and advocates around the globe who oppose the death penalty.

Frankly, I hope I am wrong in thinking HRC remains neutral on capitol punishment and would very much like to post a message on my blog proclaiming HRC opposes this barbaric practice.

A prompt reply is requested.

Regards,
Michael
^^^

In a message dated 7/28/2005 6:24:29 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, Jay.Smith.Brown@hrc.org writes:

Michael, I'm sure you saw in today's Blade story. I see you got a statement from the State Dept. Although I don't have any specifics for you, I can say that we, like you, will continue to work strategically to ensure that the truth comes out behind this case.

Best,
Jay


www.washblade.com

Mixed reports on Iran teen hangings
Watchdog groups dispute claims two were executed for being gay
By ELIZABETH WEILL-GREENBERG | Jul 28, 1:49 AM

A photo of two teenaged males being hanged in Iran last week swept across the Internet with claims they were executed for being gay.

The Human Rights Campaign, a Washington, D.C.-based gay rights group, released a letter this week to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice repeating the allegations and urging her to intervene. The U.K.-based gay rights group Outrage, as well as Belgian Foreign Minister Karel de Gucht, condemned the hangings.

But the circumstances that triggered the executions are now being questioned by several human rights groups, which claim the teenagers, Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni, may not have been killed for being gay.

Research conducted by the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International has found, so far, that the teenagers were convicted of and executed for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old male, a crime that occurred when the two teens may have been minors.

Asgari's lawyer, Rohollah Razaz Zadeh, told the Associated Press that Iranian courts are supposed to commute death sentences handed to children to five years in jail.

"The judiciary has trampled its own laws," Razaz Zadeh told AP.

But the lawyer said Iran's Supreme Court upheld the verdict and allowed the execution despite his objections.

It appears that reports claiming the boys were executed for being gay originated with the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an opposition group that is classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. Accounts of the executions on gay news Web sites referenced reports by the group and its English language news site, www.iranfocus.com.

IGHRC, Amnesty and Human Rights Watch have not yet uncovered evidence that the charges were trumped up, officials with those groups said. Asgari and Marhoni also reportedly received 228 lashings while in detention for drinking and theft.

The human rights groups note that Iran's execution and torture of the teenagers remains appalling, no matter the circumstances.

"It was not a gay case," said Paula Ettelbrick, executive director of the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission, taking issue with the Human Rights Campaign's statement that was quick to condemn the execution as anti-gay.

"We would welcome HRC's involvement in demanding that our government speak out on human rights violations. It was just the wrong case," she said.

Ettelbrick said she was also disturbed by the racially charged language used by some gay rights groups to condemn the execution, such as when Peter Tatchell of Outrage said in a statement, "This is just the latest barbarity by the Islamo-fascists in Iran."

HRC received their information on the executions in Iran primarily from news reports Thursday and Friday, according to Steven Fisher, the group's communications director. An investigation to determine the truth is still needed, he said.

"We don't give one of the most secretive, aggressive nations the benefit of the doubt," Fisher said. "We would be relieved if reports are erroneous that these young Iranian men were punished for something that should never be a crime in any nation."

Congressman Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House International Relations Committee, blasted the executions as violations of Iran's obligations under international law and signs of bias against gays.

"This sickening episode shines a bright light on the severe shortcomings of the Iranian legal system," Lantos said in a statement. "No matter what legal sources or traditions a country bases its law upon, there is no justification for whipping and executing people amid an angry mob — particularly not when the convicts committed offenses while they were minors, who are specifically protected under international law.

"And in this case, authorities apparently chose to play on deep-seated feelings of bigotry toward homosexuality, which can carry the death penalty in Iran," he added.

Noel Clay, a State Department spokesperson, said Wednesday afternoon that there were no plans to release an official statement about the executions.

But Michael Petrelis, a San Francisco-based gay activist who has focused his blog on the case of the Iranian executions, said he was read the following statement on Wednesday by State Department spokesperson Edgar Vasquez:

"We remain concerned about Iran's judicial process. Defendants are not receiving due process of law, and trials lack procedural safeguards.

"As noted in our country reports on human rights practices, the judge and the prosecutor are the same person, trials are frequently held in closed sessions without access to a lawyer and the right of appeal is not often honored.

"We call upon the government of Iran to vigorously pursue prison reform, cooperate with international investigations of human rights cases and respect international human rights law and practice," the statement concluded.

Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian human rights advocate, said on July 23 that as a result of the executions, her Center for the Protection of Human Rights will intensify its fight against the use of the death penalty in Iran on minors.

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