Iranian legislator: Gays should be hanged
13.11.07
Homosexuals should be executed, Iranian Parliament Member Mohsen Yahyavi said during a discussion between Iranian legislators and British officials in London in May, according to the protocol of the meeting published Tuesday in the British newspaper The Times.
Yahyavi, a member of the committee on energy affairs in Iran's Parliament, was a member of a delegation to Britain sent from Tehran to discuss its nation's nuclear program.
"According to Islamic law, homosexuality is a grave crime," Yahyavi was quoted as saying. "It's a severe crime that goes against the laws of nature. It is human nature to procreate and homosexuals do not procreate."
The Iranian legislator added, "We do not have any opposition to this type of behavior as long as it is done behind closed doors, but those who (engage in) this behavior in public should be put to death."
The protocol shows that Yahyavi originally indicated that homosexuals should be "tortured," but he quickly corrected himself and said they should be "put to death."
Human rights in Iran
Britain and various human rights groups have been constantly criticizing Iran for its poor humans rights record. Recently, the Iranian government was given a report which accuses the pariah state of publicly hanging people convicted of engaging in homosexual behavior.
Iran has also been accused with executing women who were raped or accused of adultery.
The issue of homosexuality in Iran gained the world's attention when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad referred to it by saying "we don't have this phenomenon in Iran" during a visit to the US in October.
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