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(…) The case of the two flogged men] does not need any
explanation. They are two gay men
charged with homosexuality. It is
undeniable and there was no other reason [for flogging them]. I have a copy of the verdict…
…The first few days [after the execution of the flogging
verdict], when I talked to them, they could not speak. There were in so much pain that they couldn’t
even sleep. One of them once asked me:
“for what crime were we punished?”
Farsad is 26 and Farnam is 24 (in order to keep their identity confidential,
these are not their real names). They
have been in touch with the [Iranian Queer] Organization and we are aware of
their life circumstances. As with many
other Iranian LGBTs, their conditions are
dismal. Farsad
has lost his father at the age of 14 and his mother married a member of the
Revolutionary Guards. He considers this
the beginning of the bitter events of his life.
Farsad says: “since childhood, I couldn’t find
any inclination towards the opposite sex.
I used to think time would change this, but the older I got, the more I
was attracted to people of the same-sex.
I started to realize I was gay.”
At age 21, Farsad started his web-blog, hoping
to get acquainted with other LGBTs…. But “… one day, I had a visit from the
Ministry of Information and Communication and the Intelligence department of
the Revolutionary Guards. They had found
my address from my IP and they arrested me.”
Farsad was in solitary confinement for three
weeks and in the end the judge found him guilty of “spreading corruption in
society through internet blogging and deluding the youth into homosexuality”
and condemned him to 6 months imprisonment.
Having served his sentence, Farsad was living
in terrible conditions: “I feared everyone.
I was afraid of talking about my sexuality with anybody, [afraid that] I
could be imprisoned again. I was
chronically depressed and was hospitalized for a few weeks.”
After some time, his step-father found his journal. When he learned Farsad’s
secret, he pressured Farsad to perform Islamic
penance and not commit this “grave sin.”
When his stepfather was faced with Farsad’s
insistence that he is normal, he took Farsad to Qom to see a prominent
cleric. Farsad
says: “I was detained at the Office for Promotion of Virtue and Prohibition of
Vice at the <i>Basij</i> and the Revolutionary Guards bases. They blindfolded me and insulted me, calling
me a “faggot” and worthless. I was
overwhelmed by my own fear. They said if
I didn’t relent, they would stone me to death.
So I came to the conclusion that out of fear for my life, it was wise
for me to pretend that I’d relented. I
was taken to a cleric who kept me for an hour and gave me guidance. He told me
that I had committed a grave sin and that I must perform a penance; they gave
me a document and I signed it. The
document said that ‘I regret this serious sin, and I hope that God would
forgive me.’ After signing the document,
I was taken to Tehran,
flogged 95 lashes, and finally released.”
The news reached Farsad’s
university and he was taken in for interrogation by the <i>Basij</i> and the <i>Nahad</i> [an institution representing the Supreme Leader in
universities]. After two semesters, Farsad was dismissed.
Early in the winter
[2007], Farsad met another young gay man, Farman, in an
online chat room. Subsequent to long
online communications, they decided to meet each other. After a few dates, they fell in love and
decided to live together. For this
occasion, they invited several friends to celebrate their relationship. About 15 minutes into the party, authorities
raided their house and arrested all present.
“They beat us as much as they could.
Then they took us into a car and transferred us to solitary confinement
cells. We were detained almost the
entire holiday season for the new year.”
Regarding the night of the arrest, Farsad
says: “the night we were arrested, they hit us so much with batons that my
spine was injured and my spinal discs were dislocated. They punched me so much in the face and head,
that I still have pain in my bones.”
Farsad and Farnam, who hosted
the party, were charged with “establishing a corruption gathering and deluding
youth into homosexuality.” Since Farsad and Farnam were arrested
at a time when the two of them were together, they faced more extensive
interrogation: “They asked us a lot about sex: ‘did you sodomize each
other?’ But we didn’t give in to
pressure and denied it. In the end, the
interrogator said: ‘either way, you’re charged with homosexual
[non-penetrative] sex.’” All guests at
the party were released with guarantee; they were warned not to get in touch
with each other and not to leave Tehran.
Two weeks before the
verdict was to be carried out, authorities rearrested all the attendees of the
party. According to available
information, the guests were condemned to 60 lashes, and Farsad
and Farnam to 80 lashes. They were all flogged the same day. Then their flogger told them that the 80
lashes were only the punishment for organizing a party [to spread] corruption
and that their punishment for homosexual sex would be carried out at some other
time.
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