Iranian gays omitted from Human Rights Watch annual reports

This is cross-posted tomy blog, where you'll find links to the HRW and State Dept citations.

If the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, became interested in
what the Human Rights Watch had to say in their Iran section of their
latest annual World Report about homosexuals in his country, and the
abuse of human rights for gays there, shockingly, he'd find nothing in
that section.

HRW, for unknown reasons, omits gays not just from their 2007 country
roundup, but actually from the 2006, 2005, and 2004 versions.

Two of my colleagues who care deeply about gay Iranians and the human
rights violations they suffer, including executions, also went over
the four more recent HRW World Reports, and in the chapters for Iran,
the words gay, homosexual, lesbian, transsexual, transgender,
orientation, didn't appear once before our eyes.

Why is HRW excluding gay Iranians from their yearly survey of human
rights practices for the Islamic Republic of Iran? I wish they would
answer such a basic question.

I recently phoned and emailed HRW executives and LGBT researchers
about a report they may have produced in September 2006, after months
of exhaustive research and interviews with gay Iranians in country and
in exile.

Scott Long, HRW's gay issues director, wrote in Gay City News in July
2006:

"For eight months, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has researched a report
on abuses based on sexual orientation and gender identity in Iran,
interviewing dozens in Iran and the diaspora, trying to separate fact
from rhetoric and rumor. As a prominent Iranian dissident said last
week, 'We need cases!' — documentation, not speculation."

So far as anyone can tell, HRW never issued the promised gay Iranian
report. If I can't get HRW executives to either produce the URL
address for the report, or explain why they never issued it, I
assuredly will not hear from HRW about the omission of gays from
annual reports.

Interesting that during these four years, the US State Department's
human rights annual surveys for Iran have reported on the violations
faced by Iranian gays. Let's look at the HRW versus State Department yearly summaries for Iran, related to homosexuals:

2007

HRW World Report

 

"_____________________."

US State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

   Violence and legal and societal discrimination against women,
ethnic and religious minorities, and homosexuals; trafficking in
persons; and incitement to anti-Semitism remained problems. [...]

   On August 6, the general prosecutor ordered to close the last
major reformist daily Shargh. The ban placed on Shargh in September
2006 was lifted on May 14, but the paper was operational for less than
three months before being closed again. The government reportedly
closed the newspaper in response to a published interview with a
writer accused of being a homosexual activist. [...]

   In 2004 the judiciary formed the Special Protection Division, a
volunteer unit that monitored and reported moral crimes. The law
prohibited and punished homosexuality; sodomy between consenting
adults was a capital crime. The punishment of a non-Muslim homosexual
was harsher if the homosexual's partner was Muslim. At a speech at
Columbia University in September, the president publicly denied the
existence of homosexuals in the country.

2006

HRW World Report

   "

_____________________."

US State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

   The law prohibits and punishes homosexuality; sodomy between
consenting adults is a capital crime. The punishment of a non-Muslim
homosexual is harsher if the homosexual's partner is Muslim. In July
2005 two teenage boys, one 16 and one 18 years of age, were publicly
executed; they were charged with raping a 13-year-old boy. A number of
groups outside the country alleged the two were executed for
homosexuality; however, because of the lack of transparency in the
court system, there was no concrete information.

   In November 2005 domestic conservative press reported that two men
in their twenties were hanged in public for lavat (defined as sexual
acts between men). The article also said they had a criminal past,
including kidnapping and rape. It was not possible to judge whether
these men were executed for homosexuality or other crimes.

2005

HRW World Report

   

"_____________________."

US State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

   In July two teenage boys, one 16 and one 18 years of age, were
publicly executed; they were charged with raping a 13-year-old boy. A
number of groups outside the country alleged the two were executed for
homosexuality; however, because of the lack of transparency in the
court system, there was no concrete information (see section 1.c.). In
November domestic conservative press reported that two men in their
twenties were hanged in public for lavat (defined as sexual acts
between men). The article also said they had a criminal past,
including kidnapping and rape. It was not possible to judge whether
these men were executed for homosexuality or other crimes.

   According to the Paris-based International Federation of Human
Rights, the justice system did not actively investigate charges of
homosexuality. There were known meeting places for homosexuals, and
there had been no recent reports of homosexuals executed. However, the
group acknowledged it was possible that a case against a homosexual
could be pursued. Conversely, the London-based homosexual rights group
OutRage! claimed over four thousand homosexuals had been executed in
the country since the Islamic revolution in 1979. A September 29
Western newspaper gave one man's account of a systematic effort by
security agents and basiji to use Internet sites to entrap homosexuals.

2004

HRW World Report

   "

_____________________."

US State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

   

The law prohibits and punishes homosexuality. The punishment of a
non-Muslim homosexual is harsher if the homosexual's partner is Muslim.