MP Urges UK Government To Help LGBTQ+ Activists Sentenced To Death In Iran
Labour MP Nadia Whittome has called on the UK government to intervene as two Iranian LGBTQ+ activists are sentenced to death.
A court in Urmia found both Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani and Elham Choubdar guilty of spreading “corruption on earth,” according to the Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights.
Gay Times writes that they also faced charges of “trafficking” because they helped at-risk people escape Iran, where homosexuality is punishable by death.
“The women were targeted due to their real or perceived sexual orientation and/or gender identity and their social media activities in support of LGBTI communities,” said a release from Amnesty International.
The news of their convictions was met with international outrage. The United Nations (UN) is among those demanding a stay of execution for the two women.
“We strongly condemn the sentencing of Ms. Sedighi-Hamadani and Ms. Choubdar to death and call on authorities to stay their executions and annul their sentences as soon as possible,” experts at the UN said. “Authorities must ensure the health and well-being of both women, and promptly release them from detention.”
On October 11, Whittome, the MP for Nottingham East, raised their cases in the UK parliament with Foreign Office Minister, Gillian Keegan. “Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani and Elham Choubdar are two LGBTQ rights activists who have been sentenced to death in Iran,” she explained. “Amnesty International says that they were targeted due to their ‘real or perceived sexual orientation and/or gender identity and their social media activities in support of LGBTI communities.’ Will the Minister commit to raising these cases with the Iranian government and demanding a stay of execution and that they’re immediately released from detention?”
Responding, Keegan avoided committing to any efforts to help – instead acknowledging that she is “aware of these cases” and that they “are under consideration.”
Sedighi-Hamadani was arrested in October 2021, with Choubdar detained on an unknown date afterwards.
“Sedighi-Hamedani was reportedly forcibly disappeared for 53 days following her arrest and subjected to abuse and discriminatory insults in a detention centre in Urumieh, where she was held from October to December 2021,” according to an update from the Office of the High Commissioner at the UN on 28 September.
The situation is continuing to be monitored by both the UN and Amnesty International.
Read related myGwork articles here:
Iran Sentences Two LGBTQ+ Activists To Death
Iran Executes A Gay Man Under Label Of Sodomy, Says Expert
Two Gay Men “Executed On Charges Of Sodomy” In Iranian Prison
Gay Iranian Rape Survivor Unable To Report Brutal Attack Due To Cruel Laws
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