Yesterday we reported that Iran’s chief justice had flip-flopped on his decision to stay Makvan Moloudzadeh execution for sodomy. International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Campaign reports that the Iranians killed the 21-year old this morning:
[IGLHRC] has learned today that despite an order by the Iranian Chief Justice to nullify his death sentence, Mr. Makvan Mouloodzadeh was executed in Kermanshah Central Prison at 5 a.m. this morning, Iranian time. Neither Mr. Mouloodzadeh’s family or his lawyer were told about the execution until after it occurred. IGLHRC is still investigating the facts in this case.
“This is a shameful and outrageous travesty of justice and international human rights law,” said Paula Ettelbrick, IGLHRC’s executive director. “How many more young Iranians have to die before the international community takes action?”
Mr. Mouloodzadeh was a 21-year-old Iranian citizen who was accused of committing anal rape (ighab) with other young boys when he was 13 years old. However, at Mr. Mouloodzadeh’s trial, all the witnesses retracted their pre-trial testimonies, claiming to have lied to the authorities under duress. Makvan also told the court that his confession was made under coercion and pleaded not guilty.
That’s enough to ruin the rest of our afternoon.
Shabaka
Unbe-f_ing-lievable!!
andy
Pathetic, barbaric, and inhuman! This is simply WRONG! Who are these People?
Matt
They’re religious fundamentalists. Just like here, except ours only influence the government, rather than run it. At the moment.
Bill Perdue
The nonstop string of legal lynchings of feminists, trade unionists and LGBT folk, particularly young men and boys, by the Iranian Ayatollahs is a crime against humanity. At some point the Iranians will rise up against them just like they got rid of the Shah and his toadies. Then the Ayatollahs will get a fair trial and can be ground up in history’s garbage disposal. Or shot, whichever’s cheaper.
The same charges of murder can be made against the butcher grand ayatollah Ali al-Sistani of Iraq who issued a death fatwa against LGBT folk there. His orders have been carried out with zeal by the Badr Corps, armed by the invading US army, authorized by the Republican Administration and funded by a grand coalition of bipartisan Democratic and Republican oil pirates. Al-Sistani and his fellow shiite ayatollahs in Iran are almost certainly responsible for the murder of thousands of GLBT folk.
Some islamists deliberately couple violence with bigotry and to a greater extent than hypocritical conservative christians. However both types result in harassment, beatings and death. That of the islamists is much, much worse in scale, but not in intent. What reactionaries refer to as islamo fascism is just as applicable to their christian totalitarian cousins. The antigay venom and threats of the Paisleyites in occupied northern Ireland, Mugabe in Zimbabwe, the Ayatollahs, Der Pope, and US televangelists are camouflage for their reactionary and conservative political agendas.
Those interested in helping defend our GLBT brothers and sisters in Iraq and Iran can contact the following two websites:
http://iraqilgbtuk.blogspot.com/
http://www.irqo.net/
A fuller treatment of christian and islamic religious violence and bigotry can be found at:
http://www.inthesetimes.com/arti…m/article/2659/
http://www.petertatchell.net/int…nal/ sistani.htm
http://www.avp.org/publications/ …VP_Swaggart.htm
http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/ adjudi…F_ADJ_41843.htm
hells kitchen guy
Well, let’s keep this in mind when Bill Purdue, the Prof VP and the rest of them start screaming about American imperialism. I say, go bush – nuke the bastards.
Dawster
please… someone… please make a “Iran murdered my brother” t-shirt.
honestly.
hisurfer
You’re kidding, right HKG? You would bomb and kill the very people you want to save?
ProfessorVP
Uh, yes, hisurf. A certain kind of person would do that. Hint: starts with M, ends with N. Buy a vowel? Okay, there are two O’s.
Iran was on the path to something resembling democracy back in the 50s, but the little matter of privatizing its oil came up. Enter the USA, which overthrew the Iranian government and installed the Shah, a cruel bastard not much different from Saddam. Then when his ass got kicked out by the fundamentalists, Iran went back to the stone age. The barbarism of Iran’s current regime can be traced right back to America’s meddling.
Bill Perdue
highsurfer, no he’s not kidding. He’s a Bush/Hillary admirer, he champions homobigots, he supports NAFTA because it’s used to bust unions, and as you can see, he’s an unashamed sociopath. His politics, although he’s rarely as open as this are comprised of equal parts of unquestioning toadyism and ignorance. That’s why he always ends up supporting bigots, wars and union busting. He probably even admires Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi and Dianne Feinstein.
The problem with saber-rattling oil pirates and colonialists like Hillary Clinton, Bush and Cheney is that they make it worse for GLBT folk in Iran. Their threats to attack, including using nukes cements support for the regime, which would otherwise be in trouble. The Ayatollahs use that support to kill more of us and even contravene their own medieval legal system.
The ‘hells kitchen twit’ doesn’t exactly have the same impact as Bush etc., but Bush does depend on reactionaries to justify his foreign adventures.
One thing you’ll notice about conservatives like ‘hells kitchen twit’ is that they want others to do the fighting and dying. That why we refer to them as chickenshit chickenhawks.
Whenever he feels trapped by facts or reality he claims that Socrates speaks to him and tells him to ignore them. We can only wonder what spirit voice told him to nuke the Middle East.
hells kitchen guy
Yeah, I’m a Bush/Hill supporter. Whatever. Bomb ’em. Bomb ’em. They’re beyond redemption at this point. they’re a hateful mass of religious fanatics whose only purpose on this earth is to spread hatred, ignorance and intolerance.
hells kitchen guy
“The problem with saber-rattling oil pirates and colonialists like Hillary Clinton, Bush and Cheney is that they make it worse for GLBT folk in Iran.”
The isolationists were making the same argument about Jews in Germany in 1939. Same logic.
hells kitchen guy
I guess I could add that there’s probably not one person on the planet who’s a “bush/hillary admirer.” but when your level of discourse is reduced to 5th grade playground taunts (of which you were probably the butt of many), logic doesn’t enter into the phraseology.
hisurfer
We’re all in our separate little corners on this, eh?
HKG: No one here can defend the actions of the Iranian government. The country, though, is far more diverse than what they represent. There is an active opposition. They even got queers. Bomb them all? That’s the same logic al Qaeda uses to attack Americans: Bush is bad, therefore we should kill them all indiscriminately.
Comrades: I usually cringe when people blame every crime on American Imperialism, but installing the puppet-Shah is a text-book case of the US fucking up.
So the question is, what next? The same day we learn that Bush’s threats to start WWIII with Iran were based on faulty intelligence (and is anyone surprised by this?) & have hopes for rapprochement we get news that Iran is committing major rights’ violations like this. We don’t have the troops for war, so even if it was ethical we can’t do it. HI is heavily militarized, I see the men & women coming back from Iraq, Afghanistan, & Uzbekistan every weekend, and they are burned-out and damaged.
(and I’m a Hillary admirer, support NAFTA, and think Pelosi should be president. So there.}
ProfessorVP
Hells, it’s nice that you actually heard of Jews and the nation of Germany, and of the year 1939. That’s a good start. But you don’t KNOW anything beyond that.
Nobody in Roosevelt’s administration was remotely discussing the plight of the Jews in Europe (the Holocaust occurred in several nations) because even after Roosevelt got the US into WW2, the State Dept.’s policy was hands off the concentration camps. Roosevelt was keenly aware of what was going on, but, one could argue, was of the same mind as Hitler on the topic of Jews. Jewish leaders pleaded with FDR to bomb the railroads and concentration camps, figuring logically that those killed by such bombings were doomed anyway, and future railroad-to-camp operations would be halted. FDR refused, and the systematic killing continued until the very end of the war in 1945. Millions of Jews, gypsies, Catholics and homosexuals were exterminated AFTER the United States ended its isolationist ways and jumped into the war. Taking no chances on Jews being saved, FDR’s administration quickly reduced immigration quotas to keep Jews out of the U.S.
Merely not being isolationist doesn’t mean one really cares about the liberty of others; the last thing on Bush-Cheney-Hillary’s mind is the freedom of the Iraqis, who are certainly less free after the illegal invasion than before.
Yes, there are indeed many people who admire Bush and Hillary at the same time. Big business corporate types, for one. War profiteers, for another. People who don’t KNOW anything and possess no information, for another. No truer words were ever written, Perdue, than Bush depends on the simple/uninformed to fuel his murderous adventures.
hells kitchen guy
hisurfer: You’re right. We certainly helped make this mess. So did Lawrence of Arabia and especially Gertrude Bell, who took out a map of the old Ottoman Middle East and carved out iraq, even though it didn’t make any sense, then or now.
But we’re stuck with these bastards. I hate to sound so militant, but the impotent anti-clerical faction in Iran will only get to power if the West puts them there – same way we put Khomeini there (who was a hero to the Left in the ’70s).
It’s a mess but I don’t think can get any worse for the ‘mos stuck there.
hells kitchen guy
Prof VP: Um, yes, I knew all that. thanks! In 1939, the Holocaust was limited to Germany (duh!). Jesus, are you a pedant or what? go back to your 7th graders and stop talking down to people. It makes you even more of a bore.
ProfessorVP
Hells, by 1939, Poland had its own Nazi-run concentration camp, but prior to that, Jews of other nations were transported into Germany for killing. So the problem wasn’t merely “Jews in Germany in 1939,” which is good, fundamental information for a child to possess, but… well, you know what comes next.
I don’t talk down to all people, just you. Why? Well, because I think you could improve this site. But not coming back. Whenever you display your lack of knowledge- which is every time you write something- I call attention to the fact that you don’t KNOW anything. You possess no curiosity. You don’t read. You don’t ask intelligent questions, just think of your next insult.
Now, anybody want to handle this one from Hells:
“same way we put Khomeini there (who was a hero to the Left in the ’70s)?” Any takers, or is it too easy?
Rob
How in the world did the conversation go from the murder of homosexuals to the moral implications of invading Iran?
Although I’m a Christian – clearly “against” the homosexual lifestyle – in no way could I condone killing a person for being gay. This was horrible beyond belief, and everyone should be outraged that it took place (regardless of their personal belief regarding homosexuality).
Having said that, does that give us the right to invade another country simply because we don’t agree with how they handle their internal affairs? This notion that we can simply bomb countries that we don’t like comes from either a sense of self-righteousness or fear – two emotions that are very dangerous to act upon. Looking at history, the majority of the world’s most horrendous acts are directly related to these two feelings.
Sam
Is anyone else wondering about the lack of media coverage of this?
Dawster
yes sam i did. i wrote extensively on it. what bothers me more is the lack of LGBT outrage over it.
i’ve looked extensively on it… and when you google Makvan’s name… you get all the good shit that happened 2 weeks ago… one newspaper in australia, and one newspaper in Illinois… and the blogs, but nothing else.
you would think that SOME gay groups would want full force media coverage on this….
todd
Iraqi women used to run around in mini skirts and go to college and gays were relatively open – but we bombed them back into the stone ages.
I wonder how many gays (Bush’s friends) the Saudis string up and why we never hear about them.
hells kitchen guy
“Having said that, does that give us the right to invade another country simply because we don’t agree with how they handle their internal affairs?”
So you wouldn’t have gone into Kosovo or Rwanda?
hells kitchen guy
I should add, or the Sudan (Darfur)?
hisurfer
It’s a moot point, HKG. We do not have the resources for a third war.
And I hate to be a history geek here (actually, not really … I love it; I’m fascinated by Ottoman history so you’re on my turf here):
– Iran was a separate empire, and not part of the Ottoman Empire. It was not created by Western powers (unlike Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, & Israel).
– Lawrence of Arabia fought with the Arabs against the Ottomans, then fought for Arab independence at Versailles. The opening of Seven Pillars he writes how Versailles showed him how the ambitions of old men always destroy the dream of youth, & how the Arabs were betrayed by France and Britain. He also has some passages about hot desert sex. Seriously.
Has the West ever “installed” a leader that hasn’t turned out to be more oppressive than what existed before? I can only think of one example where it worked, and a dozen where it created greater dangers.
WWH
I’m with HKG: green glass ’em!
hells kitchen guy
Hisurfer, You could argue “the West” installed better leaders in Japan after WWII, I guess. But on the whole, yeah, the West pretty much mucks it up, although in many, many cases, it’s not like the native governments were so benevolent.
hisurfer
I was thinking of Jordan, but forgot about Japan, so make that two where it worked.
Bill Perdue
hells kitchen dummy – you accuse Cynthia McKinney, nominee for the Green Party’s presidential of anti-Semitism without a shred of proof. Why do you tell these lies, hells kitchen dummy?
For the fourth time, answer my question; Desmond Tutu consistently criticizes the oppression of Palestinians by the vicious zionist apartheid system. He’s an expert on colonialism and apartheid and he and McKinney have virtually identical views, as do all honest people who examine apartheid. Is Tutu an anti-Semite? What about the rest of us including Jews for Peace and the refusniks? Are we anti-Semites?
No we are not, but you are a reactionary islamophobe.
hells kitchen dummy – you consistently deny that gay bashing jihadists armed by your friend George Bush and Hillary Clinton are murdering our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in Iraq. (They’re not your brothers and sisters – you’re a racist and islamophobes.) Even the NY Times says the US armed jihadists are on a killing spree and that you’re a liar. Just this once, I’ll believe the Times.
hells kitchen dummy, now you claim to be against the war. We you against it a couple of weeks ago when you said “Well, let’s keep this in mind when Bill Purdue, the Prof VP and the rest of them start screaming about American imperialism. I say, go bush – nuke the bastards.’ Posted: Dec 5, 2007 at 6:02 pm. Then there were a series of posts expressing shock at your racist and sociopathic ranting and in reply you said “Yeah, I’m a Bush/Hill supporter. Whatever. Bomb ‘em. Bomb ‘em. They’re beyond redemption at this point. they’re a hateful mass of religious fanatics whose only purpose on this earth is to spread hatred, ignorance and intolerance.â€Posted: Dec 5, 2007 at 10:30 pm. You are not, as you claim, against the war.
You’re an prowar chickenhawk who I assume has never donned a uniform to fight there, so you’re even worse, you’re a prowar chickenshit chickenhawk. You and Cheney, birds of a feather.
If you found that boring wait till next time, dummy.