30+ men arrested by Iranian authorities on sodomy charges

Over 30 men were arrested in the Iranian city of Isfahan last month and will face intrustive “testing” from the nation’s authorities.

The Jerusalem Post has reported a party in the Bahadoran District was raided in late April, where weapons were discharged before the arrests were made.

Reports from Canada’s Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees (IRQR) show that the men were arrested on charges of consuming alcohol, using psychedelic drugs and sodomy – all of which are against the law in the Middle Eastern nation.

“Esfahan’s police raided a private party in Bahadoran, the Garden region of Esfahan. After firing several gunshots, they arrested more than 30 men apparently between the ages of 16 and 30 for being homosexual,” IRQR reported.

“Police detained them all at the Basij (Revolutionary Guard Militia) Station and then transferred them to Esfahan’s Dastgerd Prison. A few people managed to escape and we received reports that there were several heterosexual individuals among those arrested.”

IRQR also reported that the men will “be sent to Esfahan’s Medical Jurisprudence department for anal examination in order to provide evidence of homosexual acts to the court.”

Activist and leader of the European-based Stop The Bomb Campaign Stefan Schaden told the Jerusalem Post the European Union has a responsibility to act.

“It is outrageous that the European Union is cozying up to the Iranian regime for trade and ignores the deadly homophobia, the overall disastrous human rights situation, the latest execution and arrest waves and the regime’s promotion of antisemitism and support for terrorism. Iran’s Islamist regime with [Hassan] Rouhani as President is anything but ‘moderate’,” Schaden said.

“The EU is, however, required in their dealings with third countries to comply with binding guidelines laid down in the Union’s ‘LGBTI Toolkit’ to combat state violence against LGBTI persons. The EU must clearly step up its efforts in this regard and consider more human rights sanctions against the Iranian regime.“

Iran still holds laws which see homosexuality punishable by death, and have a history of targeting the LGBTIQ community – which included a ban on facial grooming and particular haircuts deemed unacceptable.

OIP Staff