Welcome to Iran:
In Iran, mullahs’ henchmen publicly hanged two young boys in Mashhad. One was 18 and the other was a juvenile. Before the hanging the boys were each flogged 228 times while the executioners wore masks. The victims were charged with “disrupting public order” among other things and had been imprisoned for the past 14 months, thus they were both underage at the time of the alleged offenses. Exactly 24 hours prior to the start of negotiations between the mullahs’ representative and the European Union in London, the execution occured. The boys conviction for allegedly raping a 13-year-old boy at knifepoint has been decried by Outrage! as a smokescreen to justify killing gay men.
Under Iran Law, rape victims are charged with the same crime along with their attackers and the boy wasn’t charged, adding further evidence that the boys were executed for being gay. Attorney Ruhollah Rezazadeh said his clients didn’t understand that gay relations and drinking were forbidden. Here’s an Iranian Student News story as well.
[via Queer Day]
I wonder what’s worse, making it a crime to be homosexual, or a crime to be a rape victim.
How sad of a statement it is to concede that in relative terms, America is light years ahead of other countries in regards to human rights.