I greatly appreciate this opportunity to speak on behalf of Ayaz Marhoni, who was 18 years old at the time of his execution, and Mahmoud Azgari, who was aged 17 when he was executed. They had been in prison for approximately two years and were arrested for engaging in consensual sexual activity. Apparently, they admitted this but said that it happened on a regular basis among teenagers, which is generally true, and that they were unaware of the fact that it was against Islamic law.
They were held for 14 months, repeatedly beaten and tortured, condemned by a Sharia court, flogged 228 times and hung from the back of a lorry. There are appalling colour photographs on the Internet depicting the interrogation of these terrified youths and the masked executioners placing nooses around their necks and then stringing them up. It was an unutterably barbaric and filthy act that should be roundly condemned.
I was not aware of the young men's execution but was contacted by a number of people who had seen reports in the Irish Examiner and other newspapers. These people, who are not gay, appealed to me to raise this matter because they were so horrified by what they had seen. I contacted the Iranian ambassador to Ireland and eventually received a very vague reply from him. The reply suggested that the young men were convicted of raping a 13 year old boy at knifepoint, which is an outright lie. The initial reports from the Iranian news agencies do not refer to this alleged rape.
People have been routinely killed in this manner on foot of this accusation in the past. At least 4,000 young gay people have been murdered in this fashion under Sharia law and 100,000 Iranians have been publicly executed since the Ayatollahs took power. I raised this issue with former President Hashemi Rafsanjani and the former Foreign Minister, Dr. Ali Akbar Vilayati, a number of years ago when I was in Iran and I quoted from the Koran during the meeting. There is no endorsement for this practice in the Koran, which contains only two references to homosexual activity. The references, which I think are found in shuras 25 and 26, merely express the Prophet Mohammed's astonishment at people finding sexual satisfaction with persons of their own sex and do not appoint a penalty. The Sharia courts presume to do so and execute girls over nine years of age. Only boys aged 15 and over can be executed so sex discrimination exists in this area.
Two young teenagers, who were aged 16 when they were arrested, were taken into custody, beaten, tortured, humiliated and then taken to a public square where they were flogged 228 times and then hung from the back of a lorry for having consensual sex. Due to the resulting furore, the Iranian Government then changed the story but I do not believe the new version of it.
I am aware that time is limited so I ask that the Iranian ambassador to Ireland be invited to come before this sub-committee and that a report be prepared from all available sources, including groups such as Amnesty International and OutRage!, so that questions can be publicly put to the ambassador. I ask that I be allowed to attend this meeting because it is intolerable that in the 21st century, two young people should have their lives snuffed out in this ignorant and blasphemous fashion simply because they engaged in consensual sex.
Iranian officials are extremely stubborn and the European Union is making a considerable mistake by merely engaging in dialogue with Iran and not condemning it in international fora. I was haunted when I saw the faces of these decent, fine-looking young men and imagined what their feelings were. It is one thing to die as a martyr for a cause or a hero. People can protect themselves from the horrible implications of an imminent death if they feel they are dying for a cause. These two young men were teenagers, who are routinely agonised and confused about sexual identity and the question of their sexual existence. It is a barbarous, filthy and unforgivable crime against humanity to arrest, torture, imprison for nearly two years and publicly humiliate two teenagers and finally hang them from a crane on the back of a lorry, thereby exposing them to contempt at the moment of their death. We should not forget these two people, particularly because the Iranian Government has a track record of similar activity.
I remember raising the issue of two women in a university in southern Iran who were accused of being lesbians. They were taken to a public square and split down the middle with an axe by an executioner. I sought to raise this issue with a visiting Iranian delegation. The session was to have been held in public but unfortunately it was the day on which the late Brian Lenihan died and the meeting was transferred to the Dáil in open session. I regret to tell the sub-committee that all the Iranian parliamentarians totally justified what happened to these two women. At that point, there was no suggestion of rape or anything like it. They received a mild degree of encouragement from some of my colleagues, to their eternal shame. I wish the Irish people had seen the brutal and barbaric stance of those members of the Iranian Parliament who justified this attack on the two women.
As we speak, three terrified teenage boys in Iran are being hunted and may meet the same fate. It is unacceptable and I ask that we take the action I have suggested. We should ask the ambassador to address the committee. Originally, my feelings were so engaged, I wrote a letter that would have scalded the envelope but thought it would be much better to seek information rather than prejudice the case from the beginning. I then wrote a letter seeking information. However, the information I received was paltry and unsatisfactory. I asked for further information but have received none whatsoever. Their officials stated that whatever sentence is decreed by an Islamic penal system must be approved, that instead of paying tribute to the actions of the judiciary, the media are mentioning the age of the hanged criminals and creating a commotion that harms the interests of the state and that they object to this
It is important to state we are against capital punishment. The hanging and torture of children for consensual sexual behaviour is certainly an outrage. We are betraying humanity if we do not register the strongest possible objection with and interrogate the ambassador regarding the charges, ages, conditions in captivity, how the court functions and so on. On behalf of these two lovely young men who were arrested at the age of 16 and publicly humiliated and hanged at the age of 18, I appeal to the committee to do something in their memory and for the victims who are now in the pipeline and will certainly be butchered by these savages if we do not utter the strongest possible protest.
