From IRQR:
Nemat Safavi, 21 years old, has been sentenced to death by the juvenile court in Ardebil, a city northwest Iran.
Queers in Iran are put to death and persecution by their government, simply for being who they are. Now more than ever we need your help.
According to the Human Rights Activist Group in Iran, Nemat was detained by Iranian authorities when he was 16 years old because of his homosexual acts (Lavat). He was sentenced to death after being tried in the court of Ardebil. Mr. Safavi spent time since his arrest in a ‘rectification and education’ centre, and is now being kept in the division of youths in an Ardebil prison.
A final determination of Nemat’s fate will be made by Iran’s Supreme Court. However, these sentences frequently stand as decided.
Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees calls on all human rights organizations to take up this urgent cause. We ask that people write, fax, call, or email to Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and any LGBT and/or international organizations to support Nemat and vigorously oppose his execution and the laws against homosexuals.
Your donation to IRQR helps us pursue every legal avenue to save the lives of people like Nemat Safavi. The fight is far from over.
Please, donate now: http://irqr.net/donation.htm
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Arsham Parsi
Executive Director
Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees – IRQR
www . irqr . net
info @ irqr . net
(001) 416-548-4171
414-477 Sherbourne St.
Toronto, On – M4X 1K5
4 Comments
Ah human rights. Maybe we can ask our very own ‘Islamic Commission for Human Rights’ to help. Or should that be ‘Human Wrongs’.
i notice this has been picked up over on harry’s place:
http://www.hurryupharry.org/2009/11/04/how-to-make-something-a-pressing-issue/
peter tatchell seems understandably let down by the failure of the left to come to terms with dealing with homophobia when it comes into conflict with the need to support “liberation” groups – like hamas….
b’shalom
bananabrain
Thanks for sharing this, Faisal. I hadn’t heard of the ‘Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees’ before. Strange name – but I just checked out their website and they seem like good people. It’s unbelievable that these stories don’t get more attention in the mainstream press – definitely another case of what Abu Wannabe likes to call ‘the racism of low expectations’.
bananabrain
It would appear that homophobia, along with anti-Semitism, misogyny and all-round misanthropy and hate are collateral damage, or the price worth paying, in the hard Left’s campaign to support so-called “liberation movements” and assorted clerical blackshirts.