Petrelis Files

S.F. Supervisors Strongly Condemn Iran's Executions

[Dear Friends:

I send all of you tremendous thanks for your emotional and political support during the past few weeks as we have worked together to demand an end to Iran's barbaric death penalty practices.

As we move towards organizing to stop the August 27 executions of two homosexuals in Arak, I now ask for your financial support. Funding is needed for many things related to my anti-death penalty advocacy, especially for money to pay for telephone calls, and soon faxes, to Iran.

If you can afford a donation, I'd greatly appreciate your monetary assistance. Donations can be made through my PayPal account, which you can link to at http://mpetrelis.blogspot.com. Just click on the "Make A Donation" button.

Should you wish to make a donation by check, email me and I'll send you my snail mail address.

Today's news from San Francisco is that the Board of Supervisors unanimously voted in favor of the following resolution, condemning Iran's executions, in general, and in particular its killing of juveniles and homosexuals.

The resolution was spearheaded by one of the gays on the Board, Supervisor Bevan Dufty, with great assistance from Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who is of Iranian heritage. Much credit also goes to the other gay Board member, Supervisor Tom Ammiano, and to Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval, a Latino.

My heartfelt thanks go out to all of the Supervisors, with special debt of gratitude to Dufty, Mirkarimi and their respective staffers for expeditiously moving to send a message to world that San Francisco opposes the death penalty and its tragic practice in Iran.

For further comment from Dufty, call 1-415-554-6968. And to reach Mirkarimi, phone 1-415-554-7630.

Again, thanks. --Michael Petrelis]

^^^


San Francisco Board of Supervisors Resolution
Passed Unanimously on Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Resolution urging the United States Department of State to condemn the Islamic Republic of Iran’s execution of two teenagers [Mahmoud Asgari, Ayaz Marhoni], and the impending execution of two young men [Farid Mostaar, Ahmad Chooka], for conducting homosexual acts allegedly charged as “rape.”

WHEREAS, On July 19, 2005, in the northeastern city of Mashhad, Iran, two teenagers, 16-year-old Ayaz Marhoni and 18-year-old Mahmoud Asgari, were publicly hanged for a crime involving homosexual sex – they were accused of raping an unidentified 13-year-old boy, although unheard evidence suggested otherwise; and,

WHEREAS, Before the execution, Marhoni and Asgari were detained for approximately fourteen months and received 228 lashes each for drinking, disturbing the peace and minor theft; and,

WHEREAS, Despite appeals from Iranian human rights activists, Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, and many other Non-Government Organizations (NGO’s), the Iranian Supreme Court upheld the verdict and death sentence of Marhoni and Asgari ; and,

WHEREAS, The Iranian Supreme Court in Arak, has sentenced two more young Iranian men, Farid Mostaar and Ahmad Chooka, to death by public hanging – scheduled on August 27, 2005 - the charge - homosexual intercourse and “rape”; and,

WHEREAS, These executions are a violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and a violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Iran is a signatory to both), which prohibit the execution of minors; and,

WHEREAS, In 2004, 97 percent of all known executions took place in China, Iran, Vietnam and the United States; in the number of juvenile executions since 1990, Iran ranks second (executed 14) to the United States (executed 19); and,

WHEREAS, The execution of juveniles in Iran sheds light on the execution of juveniles within the United States, challenging how our prism of an enlightened, secular, humane Western society is pitted against an Islamic-theocratic, oppressive society; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco hereby deplores the persecution and execution of all Iranians who are denied the due process of the law and are, or are perceived to be, of the LGBT community; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco urges the U.S. State Department and its European partners to issue a strong condemnation against the Islamic Republic of Iran for their national practice of civil rights abuses and executions of homosexuals, and demand the cessation of further executions and denial of due process of law.