Petrelis Files

UN's Annan Ducked Gay Iranians Question; UK MPs Debated Issue

United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan, back in January, was asked about human rights practices in Iran at a press conference given by the UK's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai, and Annan at the London Conference on Afghanistan. An excerpt from the transcript:

QUESTION (Voice of America Persian Service):

Last night the P5 spoke in unison against the nuclear programme of the Islamic Republic of Iran. At what point do you think, Mr Secretary General, that the United Nations will use its good offices to bring about one voice in support of the people of Iran, especially the bus drivers, over 110 of them were arrested last Saturday and their leader is still in prison, and for the homosexual rights in Iran, and for women’s rights in Iran?

MR ANNAN:

I think it is very clear that as the United Nations our policy has been to promote human rights and rights of individuals to live in dignity and to have freedom to go about their activities. I have had the opportunity myself to intervene in some of these cases, I intervened in the case of Ganji, and it is an issue that I often raise when I do have an opportunity. Obviously each society has to go through changes and the pace differs from country to country. We heard a lot about reform in Iran under the previous President, the pace maybe has not been as fast as you would like, by the implication in your question, which is also right, but we will continue to promote these rights which are universal and should not be alien to any country, any culture and any religion.

Well, Mr. Annan, could you be a little more vague about the human rights of gays in Iran, please? Seven months after Annan ducked answering the important question of when UN committees would address human rights abuses in Iran, the matter of Iranian gays still needs the UN's attention.

Two months ago, in a broader debate about human rights issues in Iran in the House of Commons, gay Iranian matters were on the agenda:

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Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab): I apologise for not having heard the whole debate, but I did watch the speech made by my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Riverside (Mrs. Ellman) on television.

So far, the one group that has not been mentioned is lesbians and gays. Many gay men have been executed in the past year. Indeed, execution comes not just through the courts but through officially or unofficially sanctioned death squads roaming villages, trying to find young gay men and executing them. That is outrageous and extraordinary. Has the Foreign and Commonwealth Office had an opportunity to raise that specific issue with Tehran?

Mr. Hoon: Certainly there is concern about the situation faced by homosexuals and we are monitoring the situation carefully. We are not aware of any individuals being executed in Iran over the past two years solely on the grounds of homosexuality, but clearly there are other ways in which homosexuals are seriously affected by how the law operates there.

Chris Bryant: I would be very worried if the FCO genuinely believed that no one had been executed solely because of their sexuality. Trumped-up charges are brought before courts regularly, and it is the work of many organisations in this country to reveal the true outrages going on in Iran. The FCO should look into the issue much more carefully.

Mr. Hoon: I chose my words carefully, and I do not see any need to resile from them. Charges are brought for other matters, but I accept the force of what my hon. Friend was suggesting and the issue is of concern to us.

Referring to the Iranian judicial system, we have concerns about court hearings not always being held in public and about the principle of due process not always being respected. Cruel punishments such as flogging, stoning and amputation remain on the statute book. In a prominent recent case, the Iranian authorities executed two youths—one aged 17 and the other 20—on 13 May this year. They were hanged in Lorestan province barely a month after their alleged crime. The case raises important questions. How could a fair trial be completed in such a short time? Were the two able to exhaust every avenue of appeal open to them? Why does Iran continue to execute under-18s, in violation of international law?

The UK Government and the European Union have, naturally, posed those questions to the Iranian Government, but the case highlights important inconsistencies between Iran’s stated policy of ending such executions and its actions. The international community clearly has a duty to respond to such developments, which undermine basic principles of human rights, and we are committed to addressing that issue.

Regardless of the sexual orientation of any person executed in Iran and by any method, I am gravely concerned with the news two youths were hanged in May this year. The bottom line issue for me is the death penalty, to whom and how it is applied in Iran, and elsewhere, including the USA, and the gay human rights advocates should be paying close attention to the issue, and loudly speaking out against executions.