| San Francisco Board of Supervisors Condemns Teen Hangings
by PageOneQ
Today, by unanimous vote, The San Francisco Board of Supervisors urged the State Department to condemn the hangings Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni earlier this month In Iran. The Board also condemned the civil rights abuses against and the future execution of gays in Iran.
Here is the resolution, which was adopted by a unanimous vote:
WHEREAS, On July 19, 2005, in the northeastern city of Mashhad, Iran, two
teenagers, 16-year-old Ayaz Marhoni and 18-year-old Mahmoud Asgari, were
publicly hanged for a crime involving homosexual sex - they were accused
of raping an unidentified 13-year-old boy, although unheard evidence
suggested otherwise; and,
WHEREAS, Before the execution, Marhoni and Asgari were detained for
approximately fourteen months and received 228 lashes each for drinking,
disturbing the peace and minor theft; and,
WHEREAS, Despite appeals from Iranian human rights activists, Nobel
laureate Shirin Ebadi, and many other Non-Government Organizations (NGOs),
the Iranian Supreme Court upheld the verdict and death sentence of Marhoni
and Asgari ; and,
WHEREAS, The Iranian Supreme Court in Arak, has sentenced two more young
Iranian men, Farid Mostaar and Ahmad Chooka, to death by public hanging
- scheduled on August 27, 2005 - the charge - homosexual intercourse and
"rape"; and,
WHEREAS, These executions are a violation of the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child and a violation of the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights (Iran is a signatory to both), which prohibit the
execution of minors; and,
WHEREAS, In 2004, 97 percent of all known executions took place in China,
Iran, Vietnam and the United States; in the number of juvenile executions
since 1990, Iran ranks second (executed 14) to the United States (executed
19); and,
WHEREAS, The execution of juveniles in Iran sheds light on the execution
of juveniles within the United States, challenging how our prism of an
enlightened, secular, humane Western society is pitted against an
Islamic-theocratic, oppressive society; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San
Francisco hereby deplores the persecution and execution of all Iranians
who are denied the due process of the law and are, or are perceived to be,
of the LGBT community; and, be it
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of
San Francisco urges the U.S. State Department and its European partners to
issue a strong condemnation against the Islamic Republic of Iran for their
national practice of civil rights abuses and executions of homosexuals,
and demand the cessation of further executions and denial of due process
of law.
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Originally published on Tuesday August 16, 2005.
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