Petrelis Files

Iran Hanged A Straight Man
Last Week For Gay Sodomy

(Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni, gay teens, moments before they were hanged in Mashad, Iran, on July 19, 2005.)

This tragic news comes from the Iranian Queer Railroad organization. Please repost their message and get the word out that another man has been executed by the despots running Iran for homosexual acts. The hanged man was heterosexual, forced to prostitute himself with other man, but married to a woman, who is facing death herself.

From IRQR today:

On October 6, 2009, Rahim Mohammadi was executed in Tabriz, a city in northwest Iran, after being convicted of sexual abuse and rape during sexual relations between males (a homosexual act called Lavat).

According to Rahim’s lawyer (here), Mr. Mohammad Mostafayi, there was not enough evidence presented to the court to prove such accusations; the court nevertheless decided that once a person is convicted of Lavat, he must be executed. Mostafayi, who had not been informed of the court’s decision once it was handed down - and was only contacted after his client Rahim had been executed - wrote a letter of further explanation to the authorities.

"Rahim Mohammadi was first arrested for blackmail in June 2008; over the years, due to financial problems, he had used his wife to seduce men, inviting them to their house in order for them to have sex with her. He would record the encounters on tape and use these tapes to blackmail them. There was no witness or evidence to prove that Rahim had committed a homosexual act; a complainant who had claimed that he’d been raped by Rahim withdrew the charges," says Mostafayi.

In Iran, in the case of an accusation of Lavat (based on the Islamic punishment code stated here), even if there are no witnesses or evidence, the judge can decide at his own discretion to condemn the accused.

Many European countries are continuing to refuse queer asylum seekers’ applications, stating that there are no life-threatening risks involved in their cases. These governments still believe that even though such laws exist in Iran, these laws are not being put into practice; however, as we can see in Rahim’s case, the judiciary does not hesitate to execute an accused person of Lavat, let alone a queer person.

Iranian Railroad for Queer refugees (IRQR) requests all international organizations and governments to support Iranian Queer asylum seekers by granting them refugee status, since it is evident that they face death in Iran.

A quick search turned up this report from more than a week ago, about the hanging of Rahim, and the stoning sentence of his wife, Kobra Babai:

October 5, 2009: a man was hanged for adultery and homosexuality, human rights lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei reported. Mostafaei wrote in an open letter that his client Rahim Mohammadi was hanged in the prison of Tabriz (northest of Iran).

Neither he nor Mr. Mohammadi’s family had been informed prior to the execution. Mr. Mohammadi’s wife, Kobra Babai, was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery and could be stoned to death in the near future.

The lawyer explained that Rahim Mohammadi and Kobra Babai, married for approximately 16 years and with a 11 year old daughter, were living in conditions of extreme poverty and they were forced to rely on economic assistance from state organisations. Some employees of these organisations allegedly offered further money to the man to have sexual relations with Kobra, and he accepted. The woman was therefore made to prostitute with about forty men, according to public statements by lawyer Mostafai. She was condemned to stoning for this. [...]

Rahim Mohammadi was flogged severely a few days before his execution and was hanged while his body was crushed because of the lashes he had received.