FEATURED POST

Japan | Hakamada found religion, but then felt under attack by ‘the devil’

Published
Image
Editor's note: This is the last in a four-part series on letters that Iwao Hakamada wrote while on death row. About a decade after cursing God, Iwao Hakamada was baptized Catholic at the Tokyo Detention House on Dec. 24, 1984. “Since I have been given the Christian name Paul, I am keenly feeling that I should be aware of the greatness of Paul.” (June 1985)

Vigil marks 10th anniversary of Iran hanging two gay teens

Published
Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni
Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni: Darkness at Noon
A vigil took place in London today to mark the 10th anniversary of the hanging of two Iranian gay teenagers.

Ten years ago, Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni were hanged publicly in the city of Mashhad.

Today in London, the Peter Tatchell Foundation and the African LGBT group Out and Proud held the vigil, attended by around 30 people.

“Asgari and Marhoni were found guilty of male rape after an unfair trial. LGBTI campaigners inside Iran doubt the rape allegations and believe they were hanged because they had gay sex. International human rights organisations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have often accused the Tehran regime of hanging people on flimsy evidence and on trumped up charges,” said protest coordinator Peter Tatchell, Director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation.

“On 19 July, we stand for life, liberty and love. Mahmoud and Ayaz were only children when they were sentenced to die. I remember the photos of their tears in the police van as they were driven to the gallows. It was a heart-breaking sight. This vigil is our attempt to make sure their state-sponsored murder is not forgotten and to stand in solidarity with LGBTI people in Iran.

“Iran’s penal code makes no distinction between consensual and forced homosexual acts. Both are punishable by execution. Regardless of the youth’s guilt or innocence, the death penalty is a violation of human rights and should be abolished.

A vigil took place in London today to mark the 10th anniversary of the hanging of two Iranian gay teenagers
A vigil took place in London today to mark the 10th
anniversary of the hanging of two Iranian gay teenagers.
“We also remember the many other victims of Tehran’s tyranny: students, political dissidents, women, trade unionists, human rights defenders and religious and ethnic minorities.

“We welcome the nuclear deal with Iran. But what about human rights for the Iranian people?” he queried.

Edwin Sesange, the coordinator of Out and Proud who attended and spoke at the vigil, added: “We support freedom and equality for LGBTI Iranians. They suffer grave persecution. Iran has the death penalty for homosexuality. Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the executed. Whatever the truth about the allegations against Mahmoud and Ayaz, hanging is barbaric. They should not have suffered this cruel death. We urge the abolition of the death penalty in Iran and every country.”

The vigil urged Iran to stop all executions, particularly of minors, and to stop the arrest and persecution of LGBT people.

It also urged the British Government to stop deporting LGBT asylum seekers back to Iran and to oppose foreign military intervention in the country.

Source: Pink News, Joseph Patrick McCormick, July 19, 2015

Report an error, an omission: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com
Location: Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi, Iran
Related content:

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

First Third Of 2024 In Saudi Arabia: Executions Rise By 189% And Portend Another Bloody Year. At Least 71 Currently Facing Execution.

Published
Image
Since the beginning of 2024 until the end of April, the Ministry of Interior in Saudi Arabia announced the execution of 55 individuals. This figure constitutes a 189% increase compared to the executions in the first third of 2023, which witnessed 19 executions. The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights views these numbers as a clear indication of the Saudi government's continued approach towards executing and issuing death sentences, and that the promises made in recent years have become elusive.
Read more

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

Published
Image
The following document is a written record of convicted killer Hamida Djandoubi's last moments before he was guillotined in a Marseilles prison on September 10, 1977. This written record -- dated September 9 -- was written by a judge appointed to witness the execution. Djandoubi's execution was the last execution carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. Then-President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who had voiced his "loathing for the death penalty" before he was elected to office, flatly turned down Djandoubi's appeal for clemency and chose to let "Justice run its course", as he did on two previous instances ( Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977). Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was executed in Marseilles' Baumettes prison in September 1977. The following text was writ
Read more

Cruel and Unusual: Documentary explores epicenter of Texas’ prison system

Published
Image
Every few years, from childhood until my late teens, my granddad would take me along with him to the small Texas town where he grew up—Normangee, population 522—to visit old relatives and even older graves. The drive took us up I-45, beyond the Houston sprawl, past pine forests, and eventually through Huntsville, epicenter of the state prison system. One of the city’s seven prisons was just off the interstate, and as we passed by I’d stare at the guard towers and barbed wire before turning my attention across the street to the Texas Prison Museum, which had its own mock guard towers in the parking lot. (“Prison” and “museum” were words that never seemed to go together.) Later, I learned that the museum’s central attraction was the wooden electric chair the state used for executions until 1964.
Read more

Saudi authorities agree to postpone execution of Kenyan national

Published
Image
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 13 – Saudi Arabia has acceded to Kenya’s request to postpone the execution of Stephen Munyakho that was set for Wednesday to allow for further negotiations between all parties. According to Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’Oei, Kenya will be engaging stakeholders in Nairobi and Riyadh, including religious leaders, to agree on the next urgent steps.
Read more