Sep. 29 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Experts in judicial matters of the United Nations have demanded this Wednesday that Iran immediately stop the executions of two women sentenced to death for their support for the Human Rights of LGBT people.
Iranian judicial authorities indicted human rights defenders Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani and Elham Choubdar in August 2022 and on September 1, 2022, respectively, notifying them that they had been convicted and sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court. Islamic of Urumieh.
Specifically, the two activists have been accused of carrying out crimes of “corruption on land” and “trafficking”, as detailed by the UN in a statement.
“We strongly condemn the death sentence of Sedighi-Hamadani and Choubdar, and ask the authorities to suspend their executions and annul their sentences as soon as possible,” the UN experts have requested, assuring that the authorities “must guarantee the health and the welfare of both women and release them immediately.
Iran’s legal system explicitly prohibits homosexuality, and same-sex relationships are punishable by death under the country’s penal code.
Although the judicial decision and sentencing order are not public, experts have been informed that the charges related to speeches and actions in support of the Human Rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people and other gender-based people. (LGBT) who face discrimination in Iran based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.
Experts have also received reports detailing that the trafficking charges against the women were related to their efforts to help people at risk leave Iranian territory.
Experts have expressed concern to the Government of Iran that the two women may have been arbitrarily detained, mistreated and prosecuted on discriminatory grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity, including the criminalization of LGBT people, whose rights they were defending through peaceful action.
Sedighi-Hamedani was arrested on October 27, 2021 by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards near the Iranian border with Turkey. Choubdar was arrested on an as yet unknown date some time later.
“We urge the Iranian authorities to investigate the alleged mistreatment of Sedighi-Hamadani during his detention, his enforced disappearance for 53 days and the lack of due process guarantees,” the UN has requested.
“We call on Iran to abolish the death penalty and, at a minimum, reduce the scope of its application to only criminal actions that reach the threshold of the most serious crimes,” they added.
