THEGAYUK

Tag: Iran News

Get the latest LGBT+ Iran news from THEGAYUK. Breaking news, features and interviews from the gay community in Iran.

  • 13 Countries that will kill you for being gay

    13 Countries that will kill you for being gay

    There are still many countries in which being gay can attract the death penalty for engaging in same-sex sexual relations. Of these countries, all are located in Central Africa or in the Middle East.

    13 Countries that will kill you for being gay
    CREDIT: TheGayUK

    There are the countries places on earth that have specific laws which call for the death penalty of those who are found to have engaged in homosexual acts.

    Afghanistan

    Men could face execution but are more likely to receive long prison sentences. No executions are known to have been handed out since the end of the Taliban rule.

    Brunei*

    Gay men in Brunei could be stoned or given 10 years in prison if found guilty of homosexual acts.

    Iran

    In Iran, gay men can be lashed up to 74 times for “immature men” and the death penalty for mature men of sound mind – and where the acts were consenting. Women can be lashed 50 times and can face the death penalty after their fourth conviction.

    Mauritania

    Homosexuality is against the law in Mauritania and could attract the death penalty, however, there have been no public executions since 1987.

     

    Qatar

    In Qatar, gay men may face execution if they are Muslim otherwise men can face fines and a prison sentence which lasts 7 years.

     

    Saudi Arabia

    A second conviction of homosexuality in Saudi Arabia will land a death penalty. For the first offence, men can face fines, castration, flogging, prison and torture.

     

    Sudan

    Homosexuality has been illegal in Sudan since 1899. Death penalty occurs on the third offence for men and four offences for women.

     

    Yemen

    Married men can expect to be stoned to death if caught having same-sex relations. Unmarried men will receive 100 lashes or one-year imprisonment.

     

    Libya

    Gay men could face death in Libya.

     

    Nigeria

    Homosexuality is illegal in some states of Nigeria and could attract the death penalty. These states include: Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara

     

    Somalia

    Homosexuality is illegal in Somalia and could attract a death penalty. Islamic courts have sentenced men to their deaths using Sharia law as their legal basis.

     

    Syria

    The actual penalty that gay men should face for homosexual acts is a prison for up to 3 years, however, due to the rise in ISIS a highly advertised death awaits those found guilty of engaging in same-sex sexual acts.

     

    Iraq

    Despite homosexuality not being illegal in Iraq, there have been reported executions of gay men in ISIS-controlled areas.

     

    * Brunei is a Sovereign state and not a country.

    There are some countries where although capital punishment might not be constitutionally ratified there are cases where gay people have been killed because of their sexuality.

  • Pressure Mounts For Air France As “Gay” Petition Hits Nearly 25,000

    Pressure Mounts For Air France As “Gay” Petition Hits Nearly 25,000

    The pressure is rising for Air France as a petition asking the airline to allow flight attendants who identify as gay to refuse travel to Iran reaches nearly 25,000 signatures.

    Air France
    CREDIT: Air France

    A petition which is calling on Air France to allow its openly gay flight crews to refuse travel on a route to Iran is gathering momentum and has had over 24,000 signatures added to it.

    Air France is due to recommence flights to Tehran in Iran which has left many of its gay flight attendants fearing for their lives and questioning what might happen to them after landing.

     

    ADVERT

    [adinserter block=”1″]

     

    Mr. Laurent who created the petition called upon Air France/KLM to reconsider its ethical stance on sending gay flight attendants to Iran

    “It is time again to show that Air France believes in ethics, not only for his public image. [But to] grant gay crew the right to refuse to go to a country where they could be killed for who they are.”

     

    ALSO READ: We ask the EU Airlines that fly to Iran what their policy for safe guarding LGBT staff members

    ALSO READ: Where in the world has the death penalty for being gay

     

    TheGayUK reached out to Air France’s press team yesterday to ask whether they would acknowledge the petition and whether they will allow those who identify as gay to opt out of flights to Iran. They have yet to respond.

  • Airlines That Fly To Iran

    There are a number of airlines that fly out of the UK and connect in Iran.

    Austrian Airlines
    CREDIT: © Austrian Airlines Group

    Using Skyscanner.net we were able to find airlines based in the European Union which fly to Iran. We have reached out to each of the airlines to find out what their policy is on gay flight attendants who fly to Iran and whether LGBT crew can opt out of flying to a country which could potentially execute them because of their sexuality.

    Air France has come under increasing pressure after a petition calling on the airline to check its ethics surrounding gay air crew went viral.

    There are a number of countries in the world that outlaw homosexuality and at least 10 of which have the death penalty for homosexual acts.

    ADVERT

    [adinserter block=”1″]

    The airlines which will be flying to Iran from May include: Air France, Alitalia, Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines

    Austrian Airlines 8967212827_01be0cda81_h
    Austrian Airlines

     

    A spokesman for Austrian Airlines said,

    All our crew members are informed about local traditions and laws. Furthermore, we of course do not know about private details like sexuality of our crew members. If a crew member does not want to fly to a certain destination because of reasonable personal reasons, this will be considered within his roster.

    Compared to Air France, Austrian flights to Iran are very popular among our crews, there are no complaints regarding headscarves or the like.

     

    Air France, Alitalia and Lufthansa have yet to respond to our request.

     

  • Where In The World Is Homosexuality Punished By The Death Penalty

    Where In The World Is Homosexuality Punished By The Death Penalty

    There are many countries and states where homosexual acts could land you the death penalty. Of these countries, all are located in Central Africa or in the Middle East.

    Where In The World Is Homosexuality Pubishable By Death
    CREDIT: TheGayUK

    There are the countries places on earth that have specific laws which call for the death penalty of those who are found to have engaged in homosexual acts.

    Afghanistan

    Men could face execution but are more likely to receive long prison sentences. No executions are known to have been handed out since the end of the Taliban rule.

    Brunei*

    Gay men in Brunei could be stoned or given 10 years in prison if found guilty of homosexual acts.

    Iran

    In Iran gay men can be lashed up to 74 times for “immature men” and the death penalty for mature men of sound mind – and where the acts were consenting. Women can be lashed 50 times and can face the death penalty after their fourth conviction.

    Mauritania

    Homosexuality is against the law in Mauritania and could attract the death penalty however there have been no public executions since 1987.

     

    Qatar

    In Qatar, gay men may face execution if they are Muslim otherwise men can face fines and a prison sentence which lasts 7 years.

     

    Saudi Arabia

    A second conviction of homosexuality in Saudi Arabia will land a death penalty. For first offence, men can face fines, castration, flogging, prison and torture.

     

    Sudan

    Homosexuality has been illegal in Sudan since 1899. Death penalty occurs on the third offence for men and four offence for women.

     

    Yemen

    Married men can expect to be stoned to death if caught having same-sex relations. Unmarried men will receive 100 lashes or one-year imprisonment.

     

    Libya

    Gay men could face death in Libya.

     

    Nigeria

    Homosexuality is illegal in some states of Nigeria and could attract the death penalty. These states include: Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara

     

    Somalia

    Homosexuality is illegal in Somalia and could attract a death penalty.

     

    Syria

    The actual penalty that gay men should face for homosexual acts is a prison for up to 3 years, however, due to the rise in ISIS a highly advertised death awaits those found guilty of engaging in same-sex sexual acts.

     

    Iraq

    Despite homosexuality not being illegal in Iraq, there have been reported executions of gay men in ISIS controlled areas.

     

    * Brunei is a Sovereign state and not a country.

    There are some countries where although capital punishment might not be constitutionally ratified there are cases where gay people have been killed because of their sexuality.

  • Gay Flight Attendants Worried About Facing Death Penalty In Iran

    Gay Flight Attendants Worried About Facing Death Penalty In Iran

    Gay Air France flight attendants are concerned over flying into Iran after the airline reinstated flights to the country.

    CREDIT: AirFrance
    CREDIT: AirFrance

    Air France is due to recommence flights to Tehran in Iran which has left many of its gay flight attendants fearing for their lives and what might happen to them after landing.

    A petition has been created by a concerned employee of France’s largest airline who called for the airline to re-look at its ethics.

    The petition has reached over 13,000 signatures.

    Mr. Laurent who created the petition called upon Air France/KLM to reconsider its ethical stance on sending gay flight attendants to Iran

    “It is time again to show that Air France believes in ethics, not only for his public image. [But to] grant gay crew the right to refuse to go to a country where they could be killed for who they are.”

     

    ADVERT

    [adinserter block=”1″]

     

    Homosexuality is illegal in Iran and those found guilty can face 74 lashes or the death penalty.

    In 2008 Air France suspended flights to Iran. The airline is resuming the service after international sanctions on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme were lifted.

    Speaking about Air France’s decision to resume flights to Iran,  Mr. Laurent commented,

    “If the economic decision to open flights to Tehran is understandable, the moral issue is different. Human Rights in this country are almost non-existent.”

    Air France has already said it will allow female flight attendants the right to refuse travel to Iran. The petition is asking the company to consider the same option for those who identify as openly gay.

     

    ALSO READ: Where In The World Is Homosexuality Punishable By The Death Penalty

     

    Mr Laurent continued,

    “Fortunately, the unions intervened, the feminist cause is often seen, the media seized the debate, the hostess got (which would have seemed logical from the start) the right to refuse travel.”

    TheGayUK reached out to Air France for comment, the airline has yet to comment on the petition or answer questions about the safety of LGBT staff members.

  • Eurovision Singer Goes Gay In Hot As Hell Music Video

    Iranian-born Norwegian singer Tooji – real name Touraj Keshtkar – who represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012 with the song Stay has just issued his latest music video.

    He is as hot as hell which is where some say he may end up at after seeing him not just come out as gay but practically jumping a handsome priest in a church.

    Have a glass of very cold water beside you before you watch this one.

     

     

    @RogerWakerDack

  • FILM REVIEW | Rosewater

    This rather tense drama opens with Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari been awoken by Investigators in his mother’s house in Tehran and subsequently hauled off to jail. Then in a flashback, we see Bahari in London 11 days previously with his heavily pregnant English wife discussing his assignment from Newsweek Magazine to cover the impending Presidential Elections in Iran. They are both aware of the danger particularly as both his late father and sister had both been imprisoned by Ayatollah Khomeini for being communists.

    When Bahari arrives in Tehran a chance meeting hooks him up with a young driver who zips him around the city on his motor bike introducing the Journalist to his own liberal minded friends who are concerned that the present corrupt regime will rig the Elections to insure that their Candidate running against the incumbent President fails completely. When their worse fears are realised and the Government falsely declares that the President has been reelected with a landslide majority, the streets of the city are overrun with hundreds of thousands of protesters. The authorities react by sending out armed troopers to fire into the crowds, and when Bahari captures some of this on video that is shown on US TV, he has become a wanted man.

    He is thrown into solitary confinement in Evin prison and is accused of being a spy for the CIA, the MI6, or any other Western organisation his captors claim are set on bringing the downfall of the Iranian Nation. Its a combination of paranoia and panic as the Investigator clutches at straws to make his claims stick. Bahari is blindfolded most of the time, and he establishes some sort of relationship with his tormentor…. known as Rosewater for his predilection for spraying himself liberally with the scent … who seems to bumble his way through their daily sessions of interrogation without gaining any information or a ‘confession’ from Bahari after several weeks.

    As time passes and ‘Rosewater’ is pressured by his Superior to get a ‘result’ he taunts Bahari more and deprives him of anything to read and feeds him with ant infested food, but beyond depriving him of his liberty and hope, he surprisingly never really resorts to physical torture that one may have expected

    This re-telling of the ghastly imprisonment of London based Iranian Newsweek Journalist Maziar Bahari in a Tehran jail for 118 days is the directing/writing debut of US TV journalist Jon Stewart whose own celebrity rather overshadows that of his subject.

    Whilst Stewart does an admirable job, he still doesn’t quite succeed in overcoming his main difficulty in maintaining the tension in a true story the greater part of which is just about these two men in jail, that we already know the outcome off, and that Bahari will survive.

    Gael Garcia Bernal however does an excellent job portraying the scared imprisoned journalist, and Shohrer Aghdashloo steals all her scenes in the cameo role of his mother.

  • Unconfirmed Reports That Iran Hanged Two Gay Men For ‘Perversion’

    Activists say that two gay men have been executed in Iran for “Perversion”

    The Washington Freebeacon is reporting that activists, who are tracking the situation, claim that two gay men have been hanged in Iran on Sunday and a third has been sentenced for “insulting the prophet.”

    The two men were held in a prison near Rasht. Iran is still one of the only countries that has a capital punishment for homosexuality. Its legal system is based on Islamic law or sharia.

    Until Sunday there had been no reports of executions in Iran for being gay since 2005, (when Mahmoud Asgari,16, and Ayaz Marhoni, 18 were publicly hanged), despite it being an activity which carries a death penalty.

    The Washington Freebeacon also reports that ‘Iranian authorities have hanged 40 individuals in a two-week period. Iran is executing at least two people a day, according to activists.’

    According to Banafsheh Zand, an Iranian political and human rights activist, not much is known about these executions because the Iranian authorities are sweeping the hangings ‘under the rug’.

    We’ve not been able to confirm these reports.