Iran hangs gay man in public

[Sapphocrat]

Tehran, Iran, Nov. 14 - A gay Iranian man was hanged in public on Tuesday in the western city of Kermanshah on the charge of sodomy.

<snip>

(Shahab) Darvishiwas hanged in the evening in Kermanshah’s “Freedom Square” in front of hundreds of people, the report said.

Under Iran’s Islamic Penal Code, homosexuality between consenting adults is a capital crime and official Iranian sources express hostility to homosexual practices. A state radio commentary on March 7, 2005 criticised gay marriages in Western countries. Ayatollah Ebrahim Amini, an influential cleric, said in his Friday-prayer sermon in Qom that gay and lesbian marriages reflect a weakness of Western culture . . .

More (very little, as it's a very short piece):
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=9214

A similar report is headlined: "100s cheer public hanging"

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,9294,2-10-1462_2030320,00.html

[eallen]

1. Very sad. One of many. Theocracy is an ugly thing.

[HappyWeasel]

2. Theocracy is a plague on this planet and there are those who want to introduce it to America?

I am beginning to get my Lieberman-esque hawk senses for wanting to liberate these poor people.

[everythingsxen]

6. Well..

in theory a_theocracy could be just as good as a democracy or any other government. It would depend on the religion and the leaders though. Granted every example of theocracy usually turns into ultimate evil, I am just saying, in theory, it could work.

[HappyWeasel]

8. But usually theocracies are based on the idea that EVERYONE MUST devote EVERYTHING to God...

and that just doesn't work coming up to 2010 A.D. where there is almost 7 billion people on Earth, when there is the ability to detonate several gigatons of TNT over the course of a few minutes and in a world where anything else could happen.

[everythingsxen]

11. I didn't say it was a "good" idea..

just that a theocracy could work as a benign entity, in theory.

Islam, Judaism and Christianity though, I am highly doubtful they could pull it off. Too many fundies on all sides. A generic deistic approach could work in theory though. Again though, only in theory and dependant entirely upon the leaders, much like any other form of government.

[readmoreoften]

17. Well, yes, in theory fascism can work too. Depends on what you think "work" means. /nt

[Divine Discontent]

32. it's man's interpretations on belief

that is the problem... people can be such evil pricks.

[everythingsxen]

3. Hooray Chavez! Way to stand by Iran!

As if we needed more proof of how fucked up Iran is. Don't say that too loud on DU anymore though. Iran's resident psychopath at large is bestest buds with Hugo Chavez so anything Iran does is "taken out of context" or "mistranslated".

I'm sure the official DU wing of Iran lovers will say that this is being taken out of context and mistranslated and what really happened was they were holding a gay pride parade and hanging Bush in effigy.

[readmoreoften]

15. So if I'm against fake wars to stop bad ideas that makes me a "Iran Lover?" Whatever.

Sharia Law has been in place in Iran since the 1979 Revolution. Basically, our CIA whacked Mossadeq, the Democratically elected leader of Iran in the 1960s, leaving the Shah in total control. The Shah (Pehlavi) had a brutal regime with such a severe secret police (SAVAK) that killed and tortured so many people that progressive liberals, communists, Islamists, and others joined together to overthrow the Shah. When the Ayatollah took power, he turned the hated secret police SAVAK to SAVAMA, an Islamic revolution version of the secret police, who summarily killed ALL the allies that fought beside them: all the liberals, communists, etc.-- executed.

After that there were HUNDREDS of women and men stoned to death each year when Islamic Law replaced secular law. The murders have gone unabated.

This has nothing to do with Ahmadinejad. This is not some "new" policy. And if we end up bombing Iran in the future, you can bet your bottom dollar we aren't doing it for the gays anymore than we bombed Afghanistan for the sake of the women in Burkas.

Of course this is a fucking atrocity (and by the way, don't be surprised if they attach "rape" to the deceased's crimes, that is how Iran muddies the water to keep human rights organizations away), but let's put blame where blame is due: the Islamic theocracy that's existed in Iran for decades.

Just because Iran is controlled by an evil theocracy doesn't mean waging war against a city of 12-14 million people (not much smaller than NYC) is a good idea. And the fact that Iran is a theocracy has little to do with whether or not the Bush Administration is planting cooked information in the media. Be realistic.

[Sapphocrat]

22. I think it means...

...that if you point out an atrocity like this in Iran, you too may be accused of beating the war drums / promoting pro-war "propaganda" against Iran. Been there, got accused of that, got my eye blackened. Big-time.

In any case, I know more than a few of us won't be intimated into staying silent about the reality of the worldwide persecution (and execution) of gay people, no matter where it happens.

And if we end up bombing Iran in the future, you can bet your bottom dollar we aren't doing it for the gays anymore than we bombed Afghanistan for the sake of the women in Burkas.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[readmoreoften]

23. Yeah, my opinion? Fuck the Iranian Mullahs and Fucking Bombing the Iranian Mullahs.

Long live the people who are trying to live free. Seriously. Long-live them. Because they might not live very long. I'm worried. I'm worried about my gay and lesbian bros and sisters who are being stoned to death and hung and I'm worried about what's going to happen if a bomb I paid for gets dropped on their heads.

If we can do anything, I'd like to start an underground to get GLBT people out of these countries into a safe haven where they can levy international pressure from the outside.

[sui generis]

27. somebody has issues

Chavez was talking about sovereignty, not about agreeing with Iran's human rights records.

I guess you did say it too loud.

Chavez is not Ahmedinejad. The two should not be confused. And whether Chavez is a beauty queen or not, he is their democratically elected, and reinstated leader. That would be, reinstated after we the U.S. financed a coup to replace him with a dictator.

If we have a problem with that, then we're the asshats who are fucked up, not Chavez, and not Venezuela.

Now back to the topic of the OP . . . when we start giving as much of a shit about human rights as we appear to do about oil, we'll probably start with the organ market in China. Yeah Iran makes me furious, but my fury about Iran is directed at Iran and organized fundamentalist religion and doctrine of any stripe.

[davidinalameda]

33. I was already attacked in another thread for pointing out that

Chavez is allied with Iran

you lie (or lay) down with dogs, you're going to get fleas

[rpannier]

4. Freedom Square

What a poor location for this to happen.

I'm surprised Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell were not in attendance.

[HappyWeasel]

7. You would think that Amadenjahad(Whatever his name is), Robertson and Brownback would be best of bud

I just can't want to catch a news report that Foley,Haggard,Bin Laden,Ahmadenajhed,Santorum and Brownback participate in orgies together. lol.

[eallen]

9. No, they're competitors. Like parasites that occupy similar niches.

[HappyWeasel]

10. Like the lamprey and maggot on the pig corpse?

[Botany]

5. Straight guy here

This is just too sad.

Shahab Darvishiwas, you did nothing wrong I pray that your soul finds peace
and we all stop the madness of judging others.

Golden Slumbers
(John Lennon, Paul McCartney)
Lead Vocal: Paul McCartney

Once there was a way to get back homeward
Once there was a way to get back home
Sleep pretty darling do not cry
And I will sing a lullabye

Golden slumbers fill your eyes
Smiles awake you when you rise
Sleep pretty darling do not cry
And I will sing a lullabye

Once there was a way to get back homeward
Once there was a way to get back home
Sleep pretty darling do not cry
And I will sing a lullabye

[Patchuli]

12. Bless your soul and thanks for that lovely spirit...nt

[donco6]

25. I love that song.

In fact, that whole medley - I've played it a million times.

[Canuckistanian]

13. I'd like to see an Iranian public opinion poll on gays

Are they really a monolithic homophobic culture?

My guess is this was a staged spectacle for the purposes of "public morality".

No doubt there are some in America quietly cheering this as well.

[readmoreoften]

16. Well, you can't really do an opinion poll in a theocracy. But they are

oddly enough, accepting regarding issues of transsexualism in a strange way, which is good. Unfortunately, they are so homophobic that they recommend sex changes for homosexuals (from what I read in two accounts of lesbian exiles living in France, it seems more common that they foist sex changes on lesbians-- better for society to gain a man than gain a woman)

There are most certainly GLBT people in Iran.

[Canuckistanian]

18. My point is that homophobia is imposed from the top down

The mullahs have such a strangle hold on what "morality" is, there is no room for differing views.

Somehow, I think that public opinion in Iraq is much more tolerant than the authors of the horror stories like this that we hear about.

[readmoreoften]

20. You mean in Iran? Yeah, I agree 100%

Funny anecdote:

I was in a cigar store in Manhattan and this guy comes in and is mouthing off to the Iranian guys behind the counter about how America is going to lose the war in Iraq because we're all a buncha faggots and how they really know how to "take care" of those faggots in the Middle East. The guy looked at me and said "Right?" and I said "what the fuck do I know? I'm a lesbian." And the guy started backtracking and fumbling. He didn't know what to say. Then the Iranian guys jumped in and they said "fuck there are more gay people over there than here, I think." They told the man in no uncertain terms how ridiculous his ideas were and he left the shop.

Afterwards I started talking to the two guys and they said that there is a LOT of homosexuality in Iran, Iraq, and especially Saudi Arabia (these were their words and comments, not mine) They said that people are people and that there are gay people everywhere. Which, of course, I already knew but it was nice to hear.

I have to guess that, being human, most Iranians-- or at least a great number-- are NOT into women being flogged and stoned to death and hung for "acts incompatable with chastity" and gay men being hung. But, hell, you can't even get people to take to the streets in America. Imagine taking to the streets for gay rights in Iran? Scary proposition.

[Vorta]

29. But, hell, you can't even get people to take to the streets in America.

You said it. There are only two places in this whole country where gay people MIGHT be counted on for a spontaneous protest/riot, and those are the two most liberal cities in the country.

Several years ago, an activist acquaintance decided to move to SF. He's extreme (beyond gay equality), though I suspect some of it is for shock value. I disagree with him on many things, but he's a brick thrower and if he will be revolutionary and throw the brick, I will stand in the cops' way and swear I didn't see who did it. I could allow that he wanted to retire, but he wasn't retiring, so in essence his move was carrying coals to Newcastle.

Meanwhile, we have an enormous gay population in this state which is operating politically at about 30% of capacity. I don't know what it would take to get people to take to the streets here. I went down to protest the election of a Republican governor, and I was alone. Alone. No one else showed up, despite it being a well publicized event TWO BLOCKS from where a weekly protest is held. It was a beautiful night. It was an early event. No one was there except for Republicans, cops, and me. No gay folks. No antiwar folks. No Uhurus. I was there for two hours and gave up.

Edit- "no gay folks" exclusive of the dozen or so Republican men who sent the gaydar off the scale.

[gully]

14. Again - the similarities to the RW fundies are striking.

eom

[Psephos]

19. With one teensy-weensy exception

I haven't read about public hangings of gays happening lately around these parts.

Fundamentalists of any stripe are trouble. But I'd rather deal with the Christian crowd than the mullahs if I were gay. No contest.

Peace.

[readmoreoften]

21. They can't get away with it. There are plenty who'd love to do it. /nt

[gully]

24. True.

Then again, THIS didn't happen all that long ago.



Matthew Sheppard is also an example of what hate/bigotry look like in this country. Thankfully WE have laws against hate crimes as opposed to laws endorsing them.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

31. its not allowed because of all the work progressives have done over the years

and the laws in place.

if the christian mullahs had their way it would be a different story.

[William769]

26. Freedom square?

I guess the same can be said of the Iranians "They hate us for our freedoms". :eyes:

[sui generis]

28. the saddest part

when you think about this; like us, the guy did not miraculously appear out of whole cloth.

He had family, friends, cousins, siblings, parents, and possibly even children. These are not mega-cities. These are small towns and communities where half the population has some tie of kinship to each other.

And yet, for this idea that a human might make his or her own choices about his or her life, this person was hanged.

He wasn't hanged for being gay. He was hanged for violating somebody's ideas about what he should have been doing with his reproductive organs. I really don't believe we are all created equal. I think there are some people who look like us and walk and talk like us who are not at all the same kind of human as the rest of us.

There are people right here in the U.S., people we shop with at the grocery store, who would religiously attend the hanging of gays and women who had abortions if it was legal to do so. History has certainly proven that.

[Puglover]

30. This photo has haunted me

since the 1st time I saw it.

Bleh edit to remove link. Something won't allow me to post it. Google "Iranian gay teens execution" if you want to see it.

These fucking CHILDREN on their way to be hung.

I don't even have the words. It makes me want to vomit.