Call for LGBT activists to join protest against stoning and execution in Iran

Image by Hamed Saber via FlickrMission Free Iran extends an urgent invitation to the LGBT activist community to join the 100 Cities protest against stoning and execution in Iran on August 28 2010 to demand an end to the terror of executions in Iran. (original call in EN | FR)

The purpose of this call is to alert you to a new wave of executions that has been initiated by the Islamic Republic of Iran, and to raise awareness that the regime is explicitly targeting the LGBT community for execution.

All of us must stand together against this imminent threat. We call the LGBT community to join in an international day of action on August 28 to demand an end to this brutal and murderous regime. We can no longer afford to stay silent. As we know all too well, silence = death.

We ask that LGBT activists join the protests that have already been scheduled in major cities, and, importantly, we ask you to add new cities to those already participating in the protests, to increase the strength of the international response to the regime. We must send an unequivocal message to the Islamic Republic that the world does not tolerate the slaughter of people in Iran, regardless of sexual orientation, and we must send a message to national governments that their inaction on these killings is unacceptable.

Please contact Maria Rohaly, coordinator of Mission Free Iran, if you are able to hold a demonstration in your city or town on August 28. You can hand out flyers/leaflets, hold a demonstration, collect signatures on a petition, stage street theatre – however you want to condemn the stonings, torture, and executions of people in the Islamic Republic.

Background:

The Islamic Republic targets the LGBT community for harassment, rape, and execution. Among other cases, 18-year-old Ebrahim Hamidi has been accused of being gay – which is not a crime – and as a result has been issued a death sentence. The public should be aware of the following background information as it pertains to the Islamic Republic’s persecution of people who have been accused of engaging in same-sex relationships.

1. The Islamic Republic has promised a return to a judicial process that led to the execution of 30,000 political prisoners in the 1980s. Homosexuals were among those targeted by the regime in those mass executions, which have been characterized as “genocide” and among the worst atrocities since the end of World War II (Geoffrey Robertson, 2010)
2. The LGBT community has continued to be targeted by the regime. For example, there are currently 18 people on death row in Tabriz prison alone on charges of the non-crime of homosexuality. Ebrahim Hamidi, a teenager, has been sentenced to death on charges of homosexuality despite the fact that their is no complainant in his case except for the state. Additional cases can be found here, and there are many more.
3. The execution of political prisoners has already begun. On May 9, 2010, 5 political prisoners were executed in Kurdistan; 7 others are currently at imminent risk of execution, and more have recently had sentences handed down, including 18-year-old Hamidi.

Join us as we stand together, unified around the world, against this anti-gay, anti-woman regime. Enough is enough – the terror and the killing must end in the Islamic Republic.

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