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30 Men Arrested On Morals Charges In Raid On Iran Home
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

Posted: March 28, 2008 - 5:00 pm ET

(New York City) Thirty men have been arrested in a so-called morals raid on a private home in the Iranian city of Esfahan an international human rights groups said Friday.

Citing sources within Iran the New York-based Human Rights Watch said that the men were arrested in late February and have been held for almost four weeks without access to lawyers and without formal charges.

The men allegedly are accused of consensual homosexual conduct, drinking alcohol, and other related "morals" offenses.

Police reportedly referred them to a forensic medical examiner to look for “evidence” that they have engaged in homosexual conduct.

Human Rights Watch urged Iranian authorities to release the men.

"When police routinely break down doors to enforce a brand of morality, it means a line has been crossed to invade people’s privacy at any time," said Joe Stork, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

"Iran’s repressive system of controlling people’s dress, behavior, and personal lives violates fundamental rights."

In May 2007, during a nationwide crackdown to enforce dress codes and conduct, police raided another private party in an apartment building in Esfahan. They arrested 87 persons, including four women and at least eight people whom they accused of wearing the clothing of the opposite sex. Victims told Human Rights Watch that police stripped many of them to the waist in the street, and beat them until their backs or faces were bloody. Several reportedly had bones broken.

Of those arrested, 24 men were tried for “facilitating immorality and sexual misconduct,” as well as possessing and drinking alcohol. In June 2007, an Esfahan court found all of them guilty of various combinations of these charges. Most were sentenced to up to 80 lashes and to fines up to $5,000 (US). The verdicts are under appeal and have not yet been enforced.

Citing its unnamed sources in Iran, Human Rights Watch said that since the May 2007 arrests, police have intensified surveillance, harassment, and abuse against people connected to the 87 arrested men, or otherwise suspected of homosexual conduct. Several described being detained by police and interrogated to reveal contacts.

According to one man’s account, provided by Human Rights Watch, police “poured water over me. … They threatened me, they said ‘cooperate with us.’ … They are after everyone, they said, ‘You are completing your gang, you are creating new members, where do you gather?’” They told me, ‘Go out and meet people.’ In essence, I should spy for them."

Iranian law provides punishments up to death for penetrative same-sex sexual activity between men on the first conviction, and punishes non-penetrative activity with up to 100 lashes.

Homosexual conduct between women is punishable with death on the fourth conviction. Iran’s Penal Code requires four reiterated confessions, or the testimony of four “righteous men” as eyewitnesses, to prove lavat, or sodomy. However, judges are permitted to accept circumstantial evidence or inference. At the May 2007 raid in Esfahan, police reportedly brought four civilian witnesses to prove that “immorality” was taking place.

The last documented death sentences for consensual homosexual conduct in Iran were handed down in March 2005. It is not known whether they were carried out.

Human Rights Watch said that in interviews with men and women inside and outside Iran, it has documented widespread patterns of arbitrary arrest and torture based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Some Western sources have suggested that charges of consensual homosexual conduct are converted to charges of rape in the Iranian judicial system, but Human Rights Watch said it has found no independent evidence.

“In Iran, for some people, the spy at the bedroom window or the knock at the door can mean the threat of a death sentence,” said Stork. “Privacy, freedom from arbitrary arrest, and freedom from torture are human rights. Police and judges must respect them.”

Last September President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during a speech at Columbia University, declared there were no homosexuals in Iran. (story)

"In Iran we don't have homosexuals like you do in your country. We do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who's told you that we have it," Ahmadinejad said.

Just wanted to thank-you--you always post the most interesting articles.

BettyW,
You're certainly welcome! I just seem to read a lot of this stuff and feel the need to share it. It's very nice to get a thank you.