…Deportations of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender asylum-seekers to Iran would violate Dutch government’s obligations to people facing torture or execution in their country of origin. We are particularly concerned that Human Rights Watch’s findings in a particular case appear to have been used to make a sweeping, and inaccurate, analysis of the legal penalties for homosexual conduct in Iran in general…

—Scott Long of Human Rights Watch (HRW), writing to Minister Verdonk, Minister of Alien Affairs and Integration of the Netherlands, requesting that the Netherlands not deport Iranian homosexuals back to Iran.  HRW argues that the Dutch goverment is obligated, according to Article 3 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, to grant such people asylum on the basis that such individuals face torture or the death penalty in Iran.    

What, if anything, HRW’s letter had to do with a recent case in Stuttgart is unclear, but a 27-year-old Iranian lesbian has been granted asylum in Germany. She successfully argued that a forced return would sentence her to the death penalty, which is the punishment for certain homosexual acts in Iran.

The letter from HRW outlines Iranian policies on homosexuality.

Within the region, Iran is distinguished by the overt severity of the penalties it imposes on consensual, adult homosexual conduct. “Sodomy” or lavat—consummated sexual activity between males, whether penetrative or not—is punishable by execution, regardless of whether the partner is passive or active. (Article 111 of the Code of Islamic Punishments or Penal Code states that “Lavat is punishable by death so long as both the active and passive partners are mature, of sound mind, and have acted of free will.”) Tafkhiz (the rubbing together of thighs or buttocks or other forms of non-penetrative “foreplay” between men) is punishable by one hundred lashes for each partner, according to Articles 121-122 of the Penal Code. Recidivism is punishable by death on the fourth conviction. In addition, Article 123 of the Penal Code further provides that “If two men who are not related by blood lie naked under the same cover without any necessity,” each one will receive ninety-nine lashes. Articles 127 to 134 stipulate that the punishment for sexual intercourse between women is one hundred lashes and if the offence is repeated three times, the punishment is execution.

Mimi Hanaoka