Tehran: A court in Iran has sentenced two Iranian women to death on charges of crimes including human trafficking and promoting homosexuality, according to human rights organisation Hengaw.
The two LGBTI activists, 31-year-old Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani, and 24-year-old Elham Chobdar imprisoned in the women’s ward of Urmia Central Prison have been accused of ‘corruption on earth’ by the court in the northwestern town of Urmia.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) had accused the two of “promoting homosexuality, promoting Christianity, gambling, fraud, human trafficking, promoting illicit sexual relations and publishing them on the Internet.”
Norway-based organization Hengaw reported that Sedighi-Hamadani, also known as Sara, is from a Kurdish-majority town in western Azerbaijan on the borders with Turkey and Iraq.
Hamadani appeared in a BBC Persian Service documentary in May 2021 and spoke about the abuse of LGBTQ + people in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, where she lives, according to Amnesty International.
Amnesty International had described her as a “relentless defender of human rights” and stated that she was detained only because of popular belief about her sexual orientation and gender identity, social media posts, and statements defending gay rights.
Hamadani was detained in Iran after she was arrested on October 27, 2021, while trying to escape at the Iranian border and seek refuge in neighbouring Turkey.
On September 4, Iranian-American journalist and women’s rights activist Masih Alijenad tweeted, “Detained LGBT+ rights advocate Zahra Sedighi-Hamedani sentenced to death in Iran for. Yes in the 21st century being homosexual is a punishable crime in Iran and now she and Elham Chobdar are sentenced to be executed. This act of terror must be condemned by the world. Be their voice.”
Western human rights organizations have often criticized Iran for its handling of LGBT issues. Under Iran’s legal system, people convicted of homosexual acts can be punished by death.
