DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran has sentenced two ladies to dying on fees of human trafficking, the nation’s official IRNA information company reported on Monday, a penalty that sparked widespread condemnation on-line.
Authorities accused the ladies — recognized as Zahra Sedighi and Elham Chobdar — of “corruption on earth,” a time period typically used to explain makes an attempt to undermine the Iranian authorities, saying they exploited younger ladies. Nevertheless, foreign-based rights teams described the 2 ladies as native homosexual and lesbian rights activists.
IRNA made no reference to the ladies’s activism, reporting that they “misused” ladies and ladies in promising higher coaching and job alternatives overseas — a reference to human trafficking. A revolutionary courtroom within the nation’s northwestern metropolis of Urmia, some 600 kilometers (370 miles) northwest of Tehran, handed down the dying sentences. The ladies have the fitting to attraction.
Worldwide rights watchdog Amnesty Worldwide recognized Sedighi earlier this yr as an “Iranian gender nonconforming human rights defender,” describing her monthslong detention as stemming from her “sexual orientation and gender id in addition to her social media posts and statements in protection of LGBTI rights.”
Hengaw Group for Human Rights, a Norwegian-registered watchdog that screens rights violations in Iran’s western Kurdistan province, reported that safety forces equally detained Chobdar over “selling homosexuality.”
Underneath Iranian regulation, crimes similar to homicide, rape, drug trafficking and sodomy can result in the dying penalty.
Together with China, the Islamic Republic is taken into account among the many world’s most prolific executioners. The U.N.’s impartial investigator on human rights in Iran warned final yr that the nation continues to execute prisoners “at an alarming charge.”
Homosexuality is prohibited in Iran, thought of one of the vital repressive locations on the earth for lesbian, homosexual, bisexual and transgender folks. Concern of persecution is so robust that some gays and lesbians have sought and obtained asylum in different international locations. Earlier this yr, Iran reportedly executed two homosexual males on fees of sodomy.
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