LGBT rights in Iran

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LGBT rights in Iran
Iran
Iran
Same-sex sexual activity legal? Illegal: Islamic Sharia Law applied
Penalty:
 Death penalty
Gender identity/expression Sex reassignment surgery (male to female) provided free of charge by the government
Discrimination protections No

LGBT rights in Iran since the Iranian Revolution of 1979 have come under governmental persecution, with international human rights groups reporting public floggings and executions of lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals. Transsexuality in Iran is legal if accompanied by a sex change operation; however, transsexuals still report societal intolerance.[1] In 2007, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking to Columbia University, said that homosexuality does not exist in Iran, though a spokesperson later stated that his comments were misunderstood.[2] Homosexuality is a crime punishable by death under the country's theocratic Islamic government.[3] Any type of sexual activity outside of a heterosexual marriage is forbidden. Gay men are treated far more harshly under the law than lesbians, and some men undergo sex change operations to avoid harsh penalties that include imprisonment and/or execution.[1]

Contents

[edit] History of LGBT rights in Iran

[edit] Pre-Islamic period

The history of homosexuality in Iran has been both influential and contradictory. The religion of Zoroastrianism in the country, which reached its peak under the Sassanids, taught that as all homosexuals (active or passive) are inherently demonic and as such they must be put to death when detected. This condemnation seems to have made its way slowly against the much older Iranian tradition of polytheism and initiatory pederasty, coming into sharp conflict during the Achaemenid period.

[edit] Islam

Main article: Homosexuality and Islam

Persia was conquered by the Arabs in A.D. 637, when Islam took over as the predominant faith. The Arabs were only superficially intolerant of homosexuality, and certainly the Koran specified no earthly punishment for homosexual behavior. Nevertheless, the devout Muslim was expected to know that God would be displeased. The outcome was a toleration and even celebration of pederasty in classical Islam, and much of the Arab poetry of this time is devoted to boys and their beauty. There is a significant amount of literature in Persian that explicitly illustrates the ancient existence of homosexuality among Iranians.[4] As a result, over a period of time the people of Persia once again moderated or reversed their earlier position.

In Persian poetry, references to sexual love can be found in addition to those of spiritual/religious love. A few ghazals (love poems) and texts in Saadi's Bustan and Gulistan have been interpreted by Western readers as homoerotic poems. In some poems, Sa'di's beloved is a young man, not a beautiful woman. In this he followed the conventions of traditional Persian poetry. Sa'di's own attitude toward homosexuals was more negative than positive. In the Gulistan he stated, "If a Tatar slays that hermaphrodite / The Tatar must not be slain in return." Another story tells of the qazi of Hamdan whose affection towards a farrier-boy is condemned by his friends and the king, who eventually says: "Everyone of you who are bearers of your own faults / Ought not to blame others for their defects."[5] Many misinterpretations of Persian poetry also stem from distorted translations. In the Persian language, there exists only one word for "him/his" and "her". In English translations, the translator has to select one and assign a gender to the word.

[edit] 20th century Iran

Under the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last monarch of the Pahlavi Dynasty, homosexuality was tolerated, even to the point of allowing news coverage of a same-sex wedding. In the late 1970s, some Iranians even began to talk about starting up a gay rights organization, similar to the Gay Liberation movement. Up until the revolution, there were some night clubs where gay behavior was tolerated. During the Shah's time, however, homosexuality was still taboo everywhere and often one could not turn to family or friends for support and guidance. There were no public agencies to assist youth or people who were confused or questioning their sexuality.

Janet Afary has argued that the 1979 revolution was partly motivated by moral outrage against the Shah's regime, and in particular against a mock same-sex wedding between two young men with ties to the court, and says that this explains the virulence of the anti-homosexual oppression in Iran.[6]

[edit] Post Islamic revolution

The new religious government that came to be established after the 1979 Iranian Revolution classed transsexuals and transvestites with gays and lesbians, who were condemned by Islam and faced the punishment of lashing and death under Iran's penal code.

On 24 September 2007, while speaking at Columbia University, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, in answer to the question "Iranian women are now denied basic human rights and your government has imposed draconian punishments including execution on Iranian citizens who are homosexuals. Why are you doing those things?", "We don't have homosexuals, like in your country. I don't know who told you that."[7] An aide later claimed that he was misrepresented and was actually saying that "compared to American society, we don't have many homosexuals". The aide further clarified that "because of historical, religious and cultural differences homosexuality was less common in Iran and the Islamic world than in the West".[8]

[edit] Transsexuality in Iran

Main article: Transsexuality in Iran

One early campaigner for transsexual rights is Maryam Hatoon Molkara, who was formerly male and known as Fereydoon. Before the revolution, she had longed to become physically female but could not afford surgery. Furthermore, she wanted religious authorization. Since 1975, she had been writing letters to Ayatollah Khomeini, who was to become the leader of the revolution and was in exile. After the revolution, she was fired, forcedly injected with male hormone, and institutionalized. She was later released with help from her connection, and she kept lobbying many other leaders. Later she went to see Khomeini, who had returned to Iran. At first she was stopped and beaten by his guards, but eventually Khomeini gave her a letter to authorize her sex reassignment operation. The letter is later known as the fatwa that authorizes such operations in Iran.[9][10][11][12][13]

[edit] Legal status

Since the 1979 Iranian revolution, the legal code has been based on a conservative interpretation of Islamic Shari'a law. All sexual relations that occur outside of a traditional, heterosexual marriage (i.e. sodomy or adultery) are illegal and no legal distinction is made between consensual or non-consensual sexual activity. Homosexual relations that occur between consenting adults in private are a crime and carry a maximum punishment of death. Teenage boys as young as fifteen are eligible for the death penalty (see Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni). Approved by the Islamic Republic Parliament on 30/7/1991 and finally ratified by the High Expediency Council on 28/11/1991, articles 108 through 140 distinctly talk about homosexuality and its punishments in detail:[citation needed]

[edit] Male homosexuality

Sodomy is a crime for which both partners can be punished by death. If the participants are adults, of sound mind and consenting; the method of execution is for the Shari'a judge to decide. A non-adult who engages in consensual sodomy is subject to a punishment of 74 lashes. (Articles 108 to 113) Sodomy is proved either if a person confesses four times to having committed sodomy or by the testimony of four righteous men. Testimony of women alone or together with a man does not prove sodomy. (Articles 114 to 119). "If sodomy, or the lesser crimes referred to above, are proved by confession, and the person concerned repents, the Shari'a judge may request that he be pardoned. If a person who has committed the lesser crimes referred to above repents before the giving of testimony by the witnesses, the punishment is quashed. (Articles 125 and 126).

[edit] Female homosexuality

The punishment for female homosexuality involving persons who are mature, of sound mind, and consenting, is 100 lashes. If the act is repeated three times and punishment is enforced each time, the death sentence will apply on the fourth occasion. (Articles 127, 129, 130) The ways of proving lesbianism in court are the same as for male homosexuality. (Article 128) Non-Muslim and Muslim alike are subject to punishment (Article 130) The rules for the quashing of sentences, or for pardoning, are the same as for the lesser male homosexual offences (Articles 132 and 133) Women who "stand naked under one cover without necessity" and are not relatives are punished by up to 100 lashes. (Article 134)

[edit] Application of laws

At the discretion of the Iranian court, fines, prison sentences, and public lashings may be used instead of a public execution.

The charges of homosexuality and Lavat (sodomy) are difficult to discern in Iran. The judiciary allows forced confessions. Other charges are often paired with the Lavat crime, such as rape or acts against the state, and convictions are obtained in grossly flawed trials. Furthermore, homosexuality has been a charge levelled at political dissidents. On March 14, 1994, famous dissident writer Ali Akbar Saidi Sirjani was charged with offenses ranging from drug dealing to espionage to homosexuality. He died in prison under mysterious circumstances.[14]

[edit] Capital punishment

Main article: Capital punishment in Iran

According to The Boroumand Foundation,[15] there are records of at least 107 executions with charges related to homosexuality between 1979 and 1990.[16] According to Amnesty International, at least 5 people convicted of "homosexual tendencies", three men and two women, were executed in January 1990, as a result of the Iranian government's policy of calling for the execution of those who practice homosexuality.[17] In April 1992, Dr. Ali Mozafarian, a Sunni Muslim leader in the Fars province (Southern Iran), was executed in Shiraz after being convicted on charges of espionage, adultery, and sodomy. His videotaped confession was broadcast on television in Shiraz and in the streets of Kazerun and Lar.

On November 12, 1995, by the verdict of the eighth judicial branch of Hamadan and the confirmation of the Supreme Court of Iran, Mehdi Barazandeh, otherwise known as Safa Ali Shah Hamadani, was condemned to death. The judicial authorities announced that Barazandeh's crimes were repeated acts of adultery and "the obscene act of sodomy." The court's decree was carried out by stoning Barazandeh. Barazandeh belonged to the Khaksarieh Sect of Dervishes. (Islamic Republic Newspaper - November 14, 1995 + reported in Homan's magazine June 10, 1996).

In a November 2007 meeting with his British counterpart, Iranian MP Mohsen Yahyavi admitted that Iran believes in the death penalty for homosexuality. According to Yahyavi, gays deserve to be tortured, executed, or both.[18]

In July 2005 the Iranian Student News Agency covered the execution of Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni in Mashhad, which drew international attention when disturbing photos of the hanging were widely distributed around the Internet.[19] The executions of the two teenagers divided the human rights community over whether it was a gay issue; all human rights groups condemned the hangings as they were for crimes allegedly committed when the boys were minors.[20] The initial report from the ISNA, a government press agency, had stated that they were hanged for homosexuality; after the international outcry, the Iranian government stated the hangings were primarily for raping a boy.

A similar pattern arose with the execution of Makwan Moloudzadeh (sometimes spelled "Mouloudzadeh") on December 6, 2007. Moloudzadeh maintained his innocence throughout the trial. He was convicted of lavat-e iqabi (anal sex) and executed for raping three teenage boys when he was 13, even though all witnesses had retracted their accusations and Moloudzadeh withdrew a forced confession.[21][22] It is questionable whether Moloudzadeh was gay. Despite international outcry and a nullification of the death sentence by Iranian Chief Justice Ayatollah Seyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrud, Moloudzadeh was hanged without his family or his attorney being informed until after the fact.[23][24] The execution provoked international outcry since it violated two international treaties signed by Iran that outlaw capital punishment for crimes committed by minors, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.[25]

Two men were allegedly hanged publicly in the northern town of Gorgan for homosexual acts in November 2005.[26] In July 2006 two youths were hanged for homosexuality in north-eastern Iran.[3] On November 16, 2006, the State-run news agency reported the public execution of man convicted of sodomy in the western city of Kermanshah.[27]

[edit] Arrests

On January 23, 2008, Hamzeh Chavi, 18, and Loghman Hamzehpour, 19, were arrested in Sardasht, in Iranian Azerbaijan for homosexuality. An on-line petition for their release began to circulate around the internet.[28] They apparently confessed to the authorities that they were in a relationship and in love, prompting an Islamic court to charge them with Mohareb ("enemies of Allah") and Lavat (sodomy).

There were two reported crackdowns in Esfahān (also spelled "Isfahan"), Iran's third-largest city. On May 10, 2007, Esfahān police arrested 87 people at a birthday party, including 80 suspected gay men, beating and detaining them through the weekend.[29] All but 17 of the men were released; those who remained in custody were believed to have been wearing women's clothing.[30] Photos of the beaten men were released by the Toronto-based Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees.[31] According to Human Rights Watch, in February 2008 police in Esfhan raided a party in a private home and arrested 30 men, who were held indefinitely without a lawyer on suspicion of homosexuality.[32]

[edit] Gender identity

Some poor Iranian women often runaways, have been cross-dressing as a man in order to avoid being the victim of sexual harassment, rape and to access economic opportunities, which are often only given to men. Women dressing as men or barbers cutting the hair of women short are both illegal. Likewise men who cross-dress as women or are deemed to be too effeminate will also face harassment or criminal charges. The one exception is for transsexualism.[33]

Since the mid-1980s, the Iranian government has legalized the practice of sex-change operations, under medical approval, and the changing of all legal documents. The basis for this policy stems from a fatwa by the leader of Iran's Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini, declaring sex changes permissible for "diagnosed" transsexuals.[34] This religious decree was first issued for Maryam Khatoon Molkara, who has since become the leader of an Iranian transsexual organization.

Despite the government's policy, transsexualism is still a taboo topic within Iranian society and no laws exist to protect post-operative transsexuals from discrimination. Aside from Maryam, the other notable figure in Iran to speak up for transsexuals has been a mid level cleric named Hojatoleslam Kariminia, who has publicly called for greater respect for the human rights of Iranian transsexuals.

Some Iranian gay and bisexual are being pressured to undergo a sex change operation and live as women in order to avoid the legal and social persecution, an issue addressed in Tanaz Eshaghians 2008 documentary, Be Like Others.

[edit] Family & relationships

No legislation exists to address discrimination or bias motivated violence on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Officially, the Iranian government believes that everyone is heterosexual and that homosexuality is, "a violation of the supreme will of God".

Same-sex marriages and or civil unions are not legally recognized in Iran. Traditional Iranian families exercise strong influence in who, and when, their children marry and even what profession they chose.[35] Few LGBT Iranians come out to family for fear of being rejected, abused or turned over to the authorities.

Traditional Iranian families tend to prohibit their children from dating, although this has become more tolerated, for heterosexuals, among the more liberal and western educated families.[35] In 2004 an independent film was released, directed by Maryam Keshavarz, that examined the changing mores of Iranian youth when it comes to sex and dating.[36]

Gay Iranian couples are often afraid to be seen together in public, and report that LGBT people were widely stereotyped as being sex-obsessed child molesters, rapists, and diseased ridden degenerates.[37] A popular Iranian derogatory slur against is that of a, "evakhahar", typically a very effeminate gay man who seeks casual sex in public.[38]

The social prejudice and threats of criminal charges, tends to encourage LGBT Iranians to socialize at discrete private gatherings, but these are still subject to police raids.[38]

[edit] Censorship

Iranian press and other forms of media are subjected to censorship for violating "national security" or undermining "morality". LGBT people and or themes are prohibited, unless they are designed to promote the government's policy.

In 2002 a book entitled Witness Play by Cyrus Shamisa was banned from shelves (despite being initially approved) because it said that certain notable Persian writers were homosexuals or bisexuals.[39]

In 2004, the Iranian government loaned its collection of artwork, locked away since revolution for being, "profane" to the Tate Britain gallery for six months. The artwork included explicit homoerotic artwork by Francis Bacon and the Iranian government stated that upon its return, it would be put on display in Iran.[40]

In 2005, the liberal Iranian paper Shargh was shut down by the government after it interviewed an Iranian author, living in Canada. While the interview never mentioned the sexual orientation of Saghi Ghahreman, it did quote her as stating that, "sexual boundaries must be flexible... The immoral is imposed by culture on the body."[33] The conservative paper Kayhan attacked the interview and the paper, "Shargh has interviewed this homosexual while aware of her sick sexual identity, dissident views and porno-personality."[33] To avoid being permanently shut down, the paper issued a public apology stating it was unaware of the author's "personal traits" and promised to "avoid such people and movements."[33]

[edit] Exiled political parties & groups

The Iranian clerics will not allow a political party or organization to endorse LGBT human rights.

Vague support for LGBT rights in Iran has fallen to a handful of exiled political organizations. The Green Party of Iran has an English translation of its website that states, "Every Iranian citizen is equal by law, regardless of gender, age, race, nationality, religion, marital status, sexual orientation, or political beliefs" and calls for a "separation of state and religion".[41]

The Worker Communist Party of Iran homepage has an English translation of its manifesto that supports the right of "All adults, women or men" to be "completely free in deciding over their sexual relationships with other adults. Voluntary relationship of adults with each other is their private affair and no person or authority has the right to scrutinize it, interfere with it or make it public".[42]

The leftist Rah-e Karegar Party, the liberal Marz-e Por Gohar and the center-right Constitutionalist Party of Iran have all expressed support for the separation of religion and the state, which might promote LGBT rights.

[edit] LGBT rights movement

In 1972, Dr. Saviz Shafaii gave a public lecture on homosexuality at the Shiraz University and in 1976 would research sexual orientation and gender issues at the Syracuse University. In the 1990s, he joined the first human rights group for LGBT Iranians, HOMAN and continued his work until he died of cancer in 2000.[43]

In 2001 an online Iranian LGBT rights organization was founded by a well-known Iranian gay activist, Arsham Parsi called "Rainbow", followed by a clandestine organization called the Persian Gay and Lesbian Organization. As of 2008, this group has been renamed the Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees. While the founder of this group had to flee Iran and continue his work as an exile, there is an underground LGBT rights movement in Iran.[44]

In 2006, the career of Iranian-born, openly gay comedian Ali Mafi began. Since then, Ali has become one of the nations youngest and fastest rising gay comedians. In all his shows, Ali mentions his status as an Iranian citizen and his commitment to being proud of who he is regardless. Ali currently resides in San Francisco, California.

In 2007 the Canadian CBC TV produced a documentary that interviewed several LGBT Iranians who talked about their struggles.

During protests against the outcome of the Iranian election in July 2009, it was reported that several openly gay Iranians joined crowds of straight protesters in the UK and were welcomed with mostly positive attitudes towards LGBT rights.[45]

[edit] AIDS/HIV

Despite the deeply conservative character of the Iranian government, its efforts to stop the spread of AIDS/HIV, have been called "progressive".[46] The first official reports of AIDS/HIV in Iran were reported in 1987, and a government commission was formed, albeit it was not until the 1990s that a comprehensive policy began to arise .[46]

In 1997, Dr. Arash Alaei and his brother, Kamiar, were given permission to open up a small office for research on AIDS/HIV among prisoners and with a few years, despite public protests, they helped open the first general AIDS/HIV clinics. A booklet was approved, with explanation of condoms, and distributed to high school students. By the late 1990s, a comprehensive educational campaign existed.

Several clinics opened up to offer free testing and counseling. Government funds were allocated to distribute condoms to prostitutes, clean needles and drug rehabilitation to addicts and programs aired on television advocating the use of condoms.[46] While there are shortages, medication is given to all Iranian citizens free of charge.

The Alaei brothers were joined in their educational campaign by Dr. Minoo Mohraz, who was also an early proponent of greater AIDS-HIV education, who chairs a research center in Tehran. Along with government funding, UNICEF has funded several Iranian volunteer based groups that seek to promote greater education about the pandemic and to combat the prejudice that often follows Iranians who have it .[47] Yet, the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may signal a more restrictive approach to the pandemic.[48]

In June 2008 the Alaei brothers were detained, without charge, by the Iranian government, after attending an international conference on AIDS/HIV.[49] The government has since accused the two doctor of attending the conference as part of a larger plotting to overthrow the government.[50]

As of 2007, the Iranian government claims that 18,320 Iranians have been infected with HIV, bringing the official number of deaths to 2,800, although critics claim that the actual number may be much higher.[51] Officially, drug addiction is the most common way that Iranians become infected.

While educational programs exist for prostitutes and drug addicts, no educational campaign for LGBT has been allowed to exist. In talking about the situation Kevin Khoshnood stated, "Some people would be able to talk about their own drug addiction or their family member's, but they find it incredibly difficult to talk about homosexuality in any way," Khoshnood said. "If you're not acknowledging its existence, you're certainly not going to be developing any programs" for gays.[52]

[edit] Asylum cases

Many middle class Iranians have received an education in a Western nation; there is a small population of gay Iranian immigrants who live in Western nations. However, most attempts by gay Iranians to seek asylum in a foreign country based on the Iranian government's anti-gay policies have failed.

In 2001, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights rejected a plea from an Iranian man who escaped from an Iranian prison after being convicted and sentenced to death for the crime of homosexuality.[53] Part of the problem with this case was that the man had entered the country illegally and was later convicted of killing his boyfriend, after he discovered that he had been unfaithful.

In 2005, the Japanese government rejected an asylum plea from another Iranian gay man. That same year, the Swedish government also rejected a similar claim by an Iranian gay man, but temporarily halted the man's deportation pending a legal appeal. The Netherlands is also going through a review of its asylum policies in regard to Iranians claiming to be victims of the Iranian government's anti-gay policies.

In 2006, the Netherlands stopped deporting gay men back to Iran temporarily. The UK came under fire for its continued deporting, especially due to news reports documenting gay Iranians who committed suicide when faced with deportation. In March 2006, Dutch Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk said that it was now clear "that there is no question of executions or death sentences based solely on the fact that a defendant is gay", adding that homosexuality was never the primary charge against people. However, in October 2006, after pressure from both within and outside of the Netherlands, Verdonk changed her position and announced that Iranian LGBTs would not be deported. Human Rights Watch has stated that this decision once again put the Netherlands in compliance with international law.[54]

[edit] See also

LGBT portal
Iran portal

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Iran's gay plan, Matthew Hays, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, August 26, 2008; accessed September 20, 2008.
  2. ^ Ahmadinejad Says Comments About Gays Were Misunderstood; Fox News; 2007-10-30; Retrieved on 2007-12-12
  3. ^ a b Brutal land where homosexuality is punishable by death, Ann Penketh, The Independent, March 6, 2008; accessed September 20, 2008.
  4. ^ glbtq >> literature >> Middle Eastern Literature: Persian
  5. ^ Sa'di
  6. ^ [1]
  7. ^ Ahmadinejad speaks; outrage and controversy follow - CNN.com
  8. ^ President misquoted over gays in Iran: aide | International | Reuters
  9. ^ Robert Tait, A fatwa for transsexuals, and a similar article on The Guardian. Gives details on Molkara's plea to Khomeni.
  10. ^ Frances Harrison, Iran's sex-change operations, BBC.
  11. ^ UNHCR, Iran Country Report, 7th European Country of Origin Information Seminar Berlin, 11–12 June 2001 - Final report. Transsexual part is on pp. 104.
  12. ^ ^ Safra Project Country Information Report Iran.
  13. ^ 2004 report, and consider UNHCR report underestimate the pressure. Mentions gender diversity on pp, 15.
  14. ^ Leading Dissident Writer in Iran Dies After 8 Months in Detention, New York Times, November 1994; accessed September 20, 2008.
  15. ^ The Boroumand Foundation
  16. ^ Search the Iran Human Rights Memorial, Omid - Boroumand Foundation for Human Rights in Iran
  17. ^ Un-named person (male) - Promoting Human Rights in Iran
  18. ^ Gays should be hanged, says Iranian minister; Timesonline.co.uk; 2007-11-13; Retrieved on 2008-04-01
  19. ^ Iran Does Far Worse Than Ignore Gays, Critics Say, Fox News, September 25, 2007; accessed September 20, 2008.
  20. ^ Witnesses to an Execution, Richard Kim, The Nation, August 7, 2005; accessed September 20, 2008.
  21. ^ Iranian hanged after verdict stay; BBCnews.co.uk; 2007-12-06; Retrieved on 2007-12-06
  22. ^ Amnesty International Press Release after the execution of Moloudzadeh.
  23. ^ Statement of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
  24. ^ Iran seen hanging man for raping boys, Frederick Dahl, Reuters via the International Herald Tribune, December 6, 2007; accessed September 20, 2008.
  25. ^ Statement of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, December 7, 2007.
  26. ^ Iran: Two More Executions for Homosexual Conduct, Human Rights Watch, November 22, 2005; accessed September 20, 2008.
  27. ^ IGLHRC Condemns Iran’s Continued Use of Sodomy Laws To Justify Executions and Arbitrary Arrests, IGLHRC, July 18, 2007; accessed September 20, 2008.
  28. ^ Online Petition for the release of Hamzeh Chavi and Loghman Hamzehpour; January 28, 2008; accessed September 20, 2008.
  29. ^ 87 arrested at gay party in Iran, The Advocate via Gay.com, May 14, 2007; September 20, 2008.
  30. ^ Amnesty International press release, May 17, 2007; accessed September 20, 2008.
  31. ^ Photos of Isfahan men beaten by police, Iranian Queer Organization; accessed September 20, 2008.
  32. ^ Iran: Private Homes Raided for ‘Immorality’ (Human Rights Watch, 28-3-2008)
  33. ^ a b c d [2]
  34. ^ [3]
  35. ^ a b [4]
  36. ^ [5]
  37. ^ [6]
  38. ^ a b [7]
  39. ^ Iran News - Book on homosexuality ordered off shelves
  40. ^ [8]
  41. ^ [9]
  42. ^ [10]
  43. ^ [11]
  44. ^ [12]
  45. ^ [13]
  46. ^ a b c [14]
  47. ^ [15]
  48. ^ [16]
  49. ^ [17]
  50. ^ [18]
  51. ^ [19]
  52. ^ [20]
  53. ^ For The Record 2003 - United Nations - Treaty Bodies Database - Document - Jurisprudence - Netherlands
  54. ^ Netherlands: Asylum Rights Granted to Lesbian and Gay Iranians; 2006-10-26; accessed 2007-08-13

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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