Petrelis Files

PARIS PROTEST OVER IRANIAN HANGING OF TWO GAY TEENAGERS
Received Thursday, 11 August 2005 20:20:00 GMT

PARIS, Aug 11 (AFP) - Some 150 protestors rallied in central Paris Thursday to condemn the July 19 execution of two teenagers who were sentenced to public hanging in Iran because they were gay, event organizers said.

Gathered in front of the Pompidou Centre, demonstrators chanted "Iran: homophobic state, murderous state", and "As in Tehran, as in Paris, sodomy is life."

Protestors wielded signs reading "Homophobia kills" and "Enough homophobia: 4,000 homos killed legally in Iran."

The rally was organized by 17 organizations, including the Gay and Lesbian Academy, Act-Up Paris, the Collective Against Homophobia, and Together Against the Death Penalty.

The groups called for Iranian authorities to abolish the death penalty, and for French authorities to issue an "official condemnation of these executions."

The Iranian daily newspaper Quds reported that the youths, aged 16 and 18, had been convicted of raping a 13-year-old boy at knife-point.

However organizers of Thursday's demonstration in Paris said several sources indicated that "in reality (the teenagers) were executed because of their sexual orientation."

At least 159 people were executed in Iran in 2004 -- the highest rate in the world after China -- according to Amnesty International.

Iran's capital offences include murder, rape, armed robbery, apostasy, blasphemy, serious drug trafficking, repeated sodomy, adultery or prostitution, treason and espionage.