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IRAN PROTESTS: SOLIDARITY WITH LGBTQ+ CAMPAIGNERS SENTENCED TO DEATH
Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani and Elham Choubdar (Image: AllOut)
Published 29 October 2022 (Updated 15 November 2022)
In September, Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, was arrested by the morality police in Tehran, Iran, for supposedly violating Iran’s law that women must wear head scarves fully covering their hair. According to reports, she was “tortured and insulted” even while en route to the police station. Amini died on September 16, three days after being taken into custody.
Since then, protests have been raging through the streets of Tehran, and so have solidarity protests in cities around the globe, and on the internet in opposition to Iran’s compulsory hijab law as well as the “decades of repression” that women and LGBTQ+ people have experienced under the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has ruled the country since 1979. While exact numbers are difficult to ascertain, it is estimated that at least 222 protesters nationwide have been killed in Iran as of October 14, largely by the country’s own security forces. That includes 16-year-old Pedram Azarnoush and Hadis Najafi, who was in her early 20s, among countless others.
The Masha Amini protest movement is also a LGBTQ+ issue:
LGBT+ Socialists have been active in supporting Iran's Mahsa Amini protests which are also a LGBTQ+ fight too, for Amini wasn't the only marginalised person who was essentially sentenced to death in Iran in September for allegedly defying what the regime deem socially acceptable.
According to Amnesty International: "Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) rights defender Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani, 31, known as Sareh, and another woman, Elham Choubdar, 24, were sentenced to death after the Revolutionary Court in Urumieh, West Azerbaijan province, tried them in early August 2022 and subsequently convicted them of “corruption on earth.” Official statements, state media reports, and statements made by prosecution officials to Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani since her arrest in October 2021 indicate that she was targeted for discriminatory reasons tied to her real or perceived sexual orientation and/or gender identity, as well as her peaceful LGBTI rights activism, including on social media, and her association with LGBTI asylum seekers in Iraq.
On 18 July 2022, state media affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards aired a homophobic video portraying Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani as a “criminal” for publishing online content which “promoted homosexuality” and “challenged the stigma around religiously forbidden [namashrou] sexual relations”. The propaganda video linked Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani’s peaceful online LGBTI rights activism to unfounded accusations of “gambling” and “smuggling women and girls from Iran to Erbil [Iraq]” in a bid to vilify her. Court documents and other information reviewed by Amnesty International indicate that Elham Choubdar was similarly targeted for discriminatory reasons related to her real or perceived sexual orientation and/or gender identity, LGBTI supportive activities on social media, and association with Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani.
The proceedings leading to the women’s convictions and sentences were grossly unfair. Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani was forcibly disappeared for 53 days following arrest. During this time, she was subjected to abusive interrogations without access to a lawyer, prolonged solitary confinement, homophobic insults, death threats and threats to take away the custody of her children, which violate fair trial rights and the absolute prohibition on torture and other ill-treatment. Amnesty International understands that Elham Choubdar was pressured to make “confessions”. Moreover, the offence of “corruption on earth” fails to meet requirements for clarity and precision needed in criminal law and breaches the principle of legality and legal certainty. Officials told the two women of their sentences on 1 September 2022 in Urumieh prison, where both are held. Their cases have been appealed to the Supreme Court.
LGBT+ Socialists and members of Socialist Alternative at a vigil organised by the Iranian community in Liverpool supporting women and LGBTQ+ people in Iran (Image: Elan Axelbank)
The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported on 4 September 2022 that Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani and Elham Choubdar were sentenced to death. Following widespread media coverage, Iran’s judiciary confirmed the news on 5 September 2022, announcing that Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani and Elham Choubdar were sentenced to death in connection with “smuggling women and girls”. Prior to this, on 6 November 2021, the Intelligence Organization of the Revolutionary Guards had claimed they caught “through a complex, multi-layered and extraterritorial intelligence operation, the leader of a network involved in smuggling Iranian girls and women to neighbouring countries for the purpose of corruption and directing and supporting homosexual groups that work under the protection of [foreign] intelligence agencies.”
Amnesty International believes that the allegations of smuggling are spurious and baseless and stem from the women’s real or perceived sexual orientation and/or gender identity and in the case of Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani, association with other Iranian LGBTI asylum seekers fleeing systematic persecution in Iran.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards arbitrarily arrested Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani in late 2021 near Iran’s border while she was attempting to seek international protection in Türkiye. Elham Choubdar was arrested sometime afterwards. The authorities charged both women with “inciting people to corruption and prostitution” and “spreading corruption on earth” (efsad-e fel arz). They further charged Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani with “illegally entering the country”.
As per Iranian criminal law, the charges of “inciting people to corruption and prostitution” and “illegally entering the country” were referred to Branch 111 of Criminal Court 2 in Urumieh for trial, and the charge of “corruption on earth” to the Revolutionary Court in Urumieh. In July 2022, the criminal court convicted Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani of “illegally entering the country” and imposed a cash fine. In the same ruling, the court dismissed, with respect to both women, the charge of “inciting people to corruption and prostitution” on the grounds that the two women were already being prosecuted before the Revolutionary Court in Urumieh on the charge of “corruption on earth” for the same activities and therefore fell outside the jurisdiction of Criminal Court 2. The verdict of Branch 111 of Criminal Court 2 in Urumieh, which has been reviewed by Amnesty International, states that the women were charged with “corruption on earth” based on their “activities in the online environment”, but does not provide more information.
In mid-January 2022, Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani was told by the lead investigator of Branch 6 of the Office of the Revolutionary and Public Prosecutor in Urumieh that she was accused of “spreading corruption on earth” including through “promoting homosexuality”, “communication with anti-Islamic Republic media channels” and “promoting Christianity”. The first two accusations stem from her public defence of LGBTI rights, including on her social media platforms such as Telegram and Instagram, and during an appearance in a BBC documentary aired in May 2021 about the abuses that LGBTI people suffer in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I). According to information obtained by Amnesty International, the latter accusation is for wearing a cross necklace and attending a house church in Iran several years ago.
Prior to embarking on the hazardous segment of her journey across the Iran-Türkiye border, Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani recorded a video message and asked a trusted contact to release it if she does not make it to Türkiye safely. In the video circulated by the Iranian Lesbian and Transgender Network (6Rang) on 7 December 2021, she says, “I want you to know how much pressure we LGBT people endure. We risk our lives for our emotions, but we will find our true selves… I hope the day will come when we can all live in freedom in our country… I am journeying toward freedom now. I hope I’ll arrive safely. If I make it, I will continue to look after LGBT people. I will be standing behind them and raising my voice. If I don’t make it, I will have given my life for this cause.”
Iran’s penal code criminalizes consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults, as well as between children, prescribing corporal punishments, such as flogging, which constitute torture, and the death penalty, which is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Amnesty International’s research consistently shows that Revolutionary Courts lack independence and impose harsh sentences on human rights defenders and others under the influence of security and intelligence bodies and following grossly unfair, summary and predominantly secret processes which undermine the right to a fair trial. Human rights defenders and lawyers in Iran have repeatedly said Revolutionary Courts lack constitutional basis and should be abolished. Amnesty International has also previously documented the Iranian authorities’ criminalization of human rights defenders which takes place against the backdrop of ongoing smear campaigns against human rights defenders, particularly on the internet, in a bid to undermine their human rights work."
Case Updates:
The situation is continuing to be monitored by both the UN and Amnesty International, the latest updates listed on AllOut on this case are:
Update – 01 September: Today, Sareh has been sentenced to death by the dictatorship in Iran for "Corruption on Earth". Her friend Elham Choubdar has been sentenced to death for the same reason. Sometime after Sareh’s arrest, Elham was also arrested while in Iran and, similarly to Sareh, was charged with "encouraging corruption and prostitution." The forced confessions of other detainees were used as evidence against her. Sareh is 31 years old and Elham is only 24! We must dial up the pressure right now to help save Sareh and Elham's lives.
Update – 05 September 2022: Today, following public outrage over their arrest, Iranian authorities justified the ruling by claiming that Sareh and Elham have been involved in "trafficking women to a neighbouring country" and denied they were being sentenced to death because of their activism. We must dial up the pressure right now to help save Sareh and Elham's lives.
Nadia Whittome MP speaking at the 'Socialist Campaign Group Rally' in Liverpool during TWT 2022 (Image: Paul McGowan)
LGBT+ Socialists taking action:
LGBT+ socialists are proud to support the ongoing protests. There is no regime in the world that a united mass movement of working people and the oppressed cannot topple when we get organized and fight with the right strategy and tactics. The Iranian people, and protestors from Sri Lanka to Chile, have shown us that there is no lack of courage or solidarity among the billions suffering under the misery of the capitalist system to fight for a new system that ends women’s and LGBTQ+ oppression, dictatorships, war, misery and exploitation.
On top of supporting and having a visable presence at protests and vigils organised by the Iranian communities around the country, LGBT+ Socialists member and Labour Party MP for Nottingham East Nadia Whittome on October 11th also called on the UK government to help the two LGBTQ+ activists, and raised their cases in Parliament to Foreign Office Minister, Gillian Keegan.
Nadia asked: “Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani and Elham Choubdar are two LGBTQ rights activists who have been sentenced to death in Iran. Amnesty International says that they were targeted due to their ‘real or perceived sexual orientation and/or gender identity and their social media activities in support of LGBTI communities. Will the Minister commit to raising these cases with the Iranian government and demanding a stay of execution and that they’re immediately released from detention?” Responding to Nadia, Keegan disgracefully chose to avoid committing to any efforts to help – instead, Keegan acknowledging that she is “aware of these cases” and that they “are under consideration.”
On 14 November, Nadia also tabled an early day motion calling on the UK government to take action to defend human rights in Iran, supported by MPs Jeremy Corbyn, Claudia Webbe, Caroline Lucas and more.
The motion reads:
"That this House notes that protests against the Iranian government have been taking place for the last two months in Iran following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini; further notes with alarm that the Iranian authorities have killed more than 300 people and detained thousands of others in response; understands that hundreds of people have been charged for their participation in the protests, with at least one person being sentenced to death so far; reaffirms its solidarity with pro-democracy and human rights activists, and its opposition to violent repression and the use of death sentences; urges the Government to call for the UN Human Rights Council to establish an international investigative and accountability mechanism to collect, consolidate, preserve, and analyse evidence of the most serious crimes under international law committed in Iran; and calls on the Government to commit to exercising universal jurisdiction to criminally investigate and prosecute Iranian officials suspected of criminal responsibility for crimes under international law and to strengthen Magnitsky-style sanctions on officials involved in human rights abuses."
Alongside supporting the protest movement, LGBT+ Socialists are calling for:
• The end of repression and state-violence: We call for the “morality police”, the Revolutionary Guards and the entire repressive apparatus to be abolished. We call for the immediate release of all political prisoners, trade unionists, students, women, LGBTQ+, and pupils. We also call for the removal of police and other structures of repression out of schools, universities, workplaces and communities.
• The end of all discriminatory laws and regulations: We call for equal rights for women, LGBTQ+ and all religious, national and ethnic minorities. We also call for an end to all religious laws and dress rules: putting the full choice of all to wear what they want in the hands of the individual, that means the right to take off the hijab, but also to wear it if they want to.
• Justice for all the victims of the Mullah regime! We call for a real investigation into the murders of Jina (Mahsa) Amini, Nika Shakarami, the fire at Evin prison, the massacres at the universities, and all the other cases, by democratically elected representatives of the victims’ families and of the movement.
• Full bodily self-determination and independence for women and LGBTQI+ people: We call for full divorce rights, an end to forced marriage as well as comprehensive, queer-inclusive education, health care, with full rights and free access to contraception and abortion.
• The end of surveillance and control: We call for the bans on the internet and other communication media to be lifted.
• Full rights to union and political organisation: Many workers and youth have organised illegal trade union structures in recent decades despite repression — We call for these to be expanded and networked to be the basis for rebuilding the workers’ and trade union movement throughout the country.