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Death sentence for two LGBT rights activists in Iran
Ariyai Community News Agency – On Sunday, 12 September, it was announced that Zahra Sediqi Hamadani, known as “Sarah”, 31 years old, from Naqdeh, and Elham Chobdar, 24 years old, from Urmia, were charged with “corruption on earth” through “promoting Christianity”, “promoting homosexuality” and “associating with Islamic Republic of Iran’s media” has been sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court of Urmia.
These two activists of the LGBT community have been sentenced to death in a joint case. The other defendant in the same case, Sohaila Sharifi, a 52-year-old citizen from Urmia, is still awaiting the verdict.
Zahra Sediqi was arrested on November 5, 1400 at the border of Turkey by IRGC intelligence forces. At that time, the official media of the Islamic Republic announced that his crime was trafficking women and girls.
The wave of pressure on activists and the LGBT community in Iran has intensified over the past two years, and issuing the death sentence to Sediqi and the bookkeeper is the latest violation of the rights of these citizens by the Islamic Republic.
Amnesty International’s statement regarding the possibility of issuing the death sentence to Sara
In February 1400, Amnesty International warned about the possibility of issuing a death sentence for this LGBT community activist and stated in its report:
“Zahra Sediqi Hamadani, a human rights defender and member of the LGBT community, simply because of her real or assumed sexual orientation and identity, as well as her posts and statements on social media in defense of the rights of homosexual, bisexual, transgender and intersex people, contrary to international norms and in the form of “He is arbitrarily detained and is in the central prison of Urmia.”
What worried human rights activists at the time of her arrest was Sediqi’s confinement in solitary confinement, her lack of access to a lawyer, and the concern that her case would not be dealt with fairly in the Urmia Revolutionary Court.
Since the arrest of Zahra Sediqi, some informants of the case stated that she has been harassed many times by the officers because of her appearance, clothing and sexual orientation, and the officers of the case have threatened her to deprive her of the custody of her two children.
In a statement, the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization accused Siddiqi along with “Alireza Farjadikia” and a person with the nickname “Kathy” of forming a gang to promote homosexuality, gambling, fraud and stigmatizing illicit sexual relations and publishing them in cyberspace. called him “the leader of the biggest gang of Iranian women and girls trafficked to Erbil, Iraq”.
However, in response to this statement, human rights activists announced that Zahra Sediqi was subjected to the most severe interrogations and harassment in solitary confinement for 53 days, contrary to international rules.
Finding the accusations of this LGBT rights activist false by Amnesty International
Amnesty International also considered the charges to be illusory and announced, for example, that the charge of promoting Christianity was brought against Siddiqui only because of his presence in a home church and throwing the cross over, or the charge of cooperating with enemy networks because of his presence in a The documentary was related to the situation of homosexuals in the Kurdistan Region.
