Brody's Notes... British Members Of EU Parliament Trying To Halt Execution Of Gay Kurds In Iran

Michael Maurice Cashman  Photo By Gay News UK

By Brody Levesque (Bethesda, Maryland) JAN 22 | There has been no word confirming that the execution of two young Kurdish-Iranian men set for yesterday was carried out. The two, who are known only by their first names of Ayub, age 20, and Mosleh, 21 years old, were scheduled to die in an execution by stoning in the city of Piranshahr in the province of Kurdistan. The pair was said to be imprisoned in the city of Orumieh.

The pair were accused of filming themselves engaging in a homosexual tryst. Additionally, headshot pictures of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and religious Iman, the Supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, were incorporated into the film pasted over a donkey and which was loaded onto their mobile telephones.

Stonewall UK's co-founder, Michael Cashman, had tweeted yesterday that he was working on stopping the executions from  being carried out. Mr. Cashman is a member of the European Parliament and alerted EU Foreign Secretary Cathy Ashton's office in conjunction with a letter written to the Minister by MP's Chris Bryant and Caroline Lucas.

In an interview with PinkNews UK, Paul Canning, a LGBTQ/Human Rights activist said:

“This case has been difficult to write about because of the dangers for sources of information in Iran, changing or limited information and because of the obvious politics which surround any such case. However this does not mean we can stand by and do nothing. Previous cases, in particular that of the woman sentenced to stoning for adultery, now changed to imprisonment, show that sometimes international pressure works. I am delighted that pressure does now appear to be being applied.”

A spokesman for the U. S. State Department in Washington has confirmed that the U. S. has been asked to intercede in this case by Gay Rights activists and that the request was under review.

Bill Murad, the Public Diplomacy Officer for Near East Affairs, stated that the State Department has and will continue to speak out against the lack of transparency and failures in due process by the Iran regime. Murad also noted that the State Department will consider issuing  joint statement upon formal request of Mr. Cashman or the EU's Foreign Minster.

An expert in middle-eastern politics and governmental affairs from the region told an Ad Hoc Coalition comprised of Dan Littauer, the Executive Editor of Gaymiddleeast.com, Melanie Nathan, the Executive Editor of LezGetReal.com, and Mr. Canning,  that:

"...this death “sentence can be prevented by national and international pressure because it did not go to the Supreme court in Iran and was only a regional court order, so there is a chance that a plea to the Iranian government or to the Supreme leader's could result in an order to save the two young men."