Thank you so much.
Thank you for having me. We're talking about human rights in Iran, and I don't think there's much to say: we have a lot of violations of human rights in Iran.
I'm executive director of the Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees, a registered charity based in Toronto, Canada. We operate internationally. We are in contact with a lot of members of the Iranian LGBTQ society inside and outside of Iran.
Many of them have no option but to escape Iran in order to be alive. It's not about their rights; it's a matter of life and death. According to sharia law, an Islamic punishment code, in Iran homosexuality is punishable by death. There is agreement among all the clergy. The only disagreement among the clergy and the lawmakers is how to kill the person. Some of them believe that they have to be hanged. Some of them believe that they have to be stoned to death. Some of them believe that they have to be cut in half by a sword or thrown from a big cliff. As a result, Iranian LGBTs experience a lot of punishment and a lot of torture and imprisonment.
Recently, for example, in April 2017, a private party in the city of Isfahan in Iran was raided by police. A number of guests were LGBT, but a number were non-LGBT. All of them were arrested. They were taken to the detention centre. They were at the detention centre for a couple of days and then were sent to Dastgerd prison in Isfahan for the crime of homosexuality. Some of them were released on bail and are now awaiting their hearing. When they go to court—for obvious reasons—there will be a minimum of 100 lashes for homosexuality, but they might be accused of drinking alcohol or doing something against national security. In the justice system in Iran, they always create labels.
On July 19, 2005, as everyone knows, two teenagers were executed in the city of Mashhad for homosexuality. Several times the Iranian judiciary system changed their story. Many times in Shiraz and in Tehran, people have been arrested at gay parties and gay birthday parties and sentenced to 100 lashes. When the court order was issued, it was 100 lashes for drinking alcohol. But there was no alcohol. In the Iranian judicial system, they want to have another reason in order to avoid international pressure.
We know that people are being arrested. They are being mislabelled and are receiving mistrials. They don't have access to legal representation. A lot of lawyers in Iran are reluctant to take these cases, because there's a big stigma. They don't want to jeopardize their situation or even their other clients.
As a result, there is a lot of pressure, not only from the government but also from society, on Iranian LGBTs. They have no way to escape it in Iran. There are no publications either. The media is usually reluctant to report these issues and to investigate them. They don't want to lose their licence. It's not even “don't ask, don't tell”. It's more “just don't do anything.”
It took us several years, but we came up with a report that's around 50 pages long. I have submitted it to the committee. I know that it's with the translation department, which will prepare the French version. Then you will be provided with it. We looked into the judiciary system, the law, and the punishment code for homosexuality in Iran. There is a lot of documentation. It might be helpful for you to look into it and see how we as Canada or as an international government can address the issue in Iran. As I've always said, the issue with Iran is not only the nuclear deal; it is human rights.