Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni
Mahmoud Asgari ( ; Persian محمود عسگریalso: Asqari ) and Ayaz Marhoni ( Persian ایاز مرهونیalso: Ayad Marhouni ) were two young people who were sentenced to death in Iran and hanged in public on July 19, 2005 in Mashhad . The case sparked protests in the western world, as both were minors at the time of the "acts" they were accused of and were suspected of being executed solely for their homosexuality .
The execution of people who were minors at the time of the crime violates the Convention on the Rights of the Child , a convention that has been ratified by every state, including Iran, except for the USA .
Official reasons for the execution were: consensual homosexual acts, alcohol consumption, disturbance of the public tranquility, theft and sexual assault on a 13-year-old. There are serious doubts about the accuracy of the allegation that Asgari and Marhoni committed a sexual assault on a 13-year-old.
Before they were executed, the two sat in prison for 14 months and were tortured in public with 228 lashes each. At the time of the execution, Mahmoud Asgari was 16 and Ayaz Marhoni was 18.
Political reactions
The execution sparked heavy protests from international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and gay organizations.
The US Congressman Tom Lantos characterized the execution as a violation of Iran against international law . Tom Lantos stated:
“This sickening episode shines a bright light on the severe shortcomings of the Iranian legal system. No matter what legal sources or traditions a country bases its law upon, there is no justification for whipping and executing people amid an angry mob - particularly not when the convicts committed offenses while they were minors, who are specifically protected under international law. And in this case, authorities apparently chose to play on deep-seated feelings of bigotry toward homosexuality. "
In addition to the execution of the death penalty, the case led to international protests mainly because both perpetrators were minors at the time of the commission of the "act". The execution of the death penalty on minors is considered to be contrary to international law. In addition, from the standpoint of modern criminal law, the seriousness of the offenses does not justify the imposition of a maximum penalty.
However, some Iranian politicians publicly admitted that both perpetrators were executed by the Iranian judiciary. Iranian MP Ali Asgari defended the verdict and rejected criticism from human rights organizations.
Cultural cross-references to Persian national literature
With their first names Maḥmūd and Ayāz, the two executed persons refer to two namesake known in traditional Persian love literature, the Ghaznawid sultan Maḥmūd and his military slave and homoerotic lover Ayāz. Both figures are in Persian literature of true, unconditional love and have been used by many writers, including in the works Bustān and Gulistan of Hafiz -Vorgängers Sa'di of Shiraz in numerous stories and anecdotes. The Sufi literature, which is opposed by the fundamentalist rulers in today's Iran , transferred the ideal royal slavery of Ayāz to the relationship between God and man. The writer Farīduddīn ‛Aṭṭār (d. 1221), who is still respected in Iran to this day and is also assigned to Islamic mysticism , used several such anecdotes for religious instruction in this sense.
Cultural reception
The Pet Shop Boys dedicated their album Fundamental , released in May 2006, to the two young people who were executed.
At the Berlinale 2007, the execution played a role as part of the Teddy Awards .
media
For the publication of a picture of the execution under the heading “Two child molesters are hanged here”, the Bild-Zeitung received a disapproval from the German press council , as the picture was inappropriately sensational. However, the newspaper was acquitted of the charge of prejudice or defamation because it had taken the caption from an agency report.
Individual evidence
- ↑ IRAN / UK: GAY TEEN ASYLUM CLAIM . crin.org. Accessed August 7, 2016 (English)
- ↑ Rep. Lantos Deplores Iran's killing of gays
- ↑ Near and Middle East - الشرق News and background information about the Near and Middle East - From Mauritania to Iran, from Aleppo to Sanaa, January 17, 2011: Homosexuality in society and literature in medieval Iran ( Memento from April 11, 2011 on the Internet Archives )
- ↑ The TEDDY AWARD . diaries.teddyaward.tv. Accessed August 7, 2016
- ^ Complaint against the BILD newspaper .whk.de. August 27, 2005
Web links
Wikinews: Iran: Two teenagers executed - message