copioincollo un intervista a una frocia iraniana
http://www.gayrussia.ru/en/detail.php?ID=1596
07/25/2005 16:55:33
Exclusive interview with gay activists in Iran on
situation of gays,
recent
executions of gay teens and the future
MAHA, Iran to all GLBT groups and individuals: Thank
you for your hard
work
and International engagement Project GayRussia.Ru
continues its
investigation
into the violent executions in Iran
Project GayRussia.Ru asked people to sign the letter
to the Ambassador
of the
Islamic Republic of Iran and to the Russian President
Vladimir Putin
against
barbarism that took place in Iran, the execution of
two young gays on
19 July
2005. The letters were sent last Saturday. When we ask
people to
support and
join our actions and when we ourselves responded to
the international
appeal
of the British gay group Outrage!, we also have the
obligation to
provide you
with some follow up and further investigation into
what happened. Here
now we
offer you the testimony of our contacts inside Iran.
For their own
safety, we
will not publish their photo or contact details. But
if you want to
send a
message to them please e-mail to contacts@???
and we will
forward
your message to Iran. Our contacts in Iran also
collect information on
the
actions of support from different countries connected
with the
executions of
teen gays. Please send us the information you
published or campaigns
you
conducted locally or internationally. We will transfer
everything to
our
contacts in Iran. After that they will be able to
include all the
information
concerning support in the next issue of their
electronic magazine. It
will
show to local Iranian gays and lesbians that they are
not alone as they
do not
have much information from other sources! Write to us
at
contacts@???
We conducted the interview with the publishers and
distributors of
MAHA,
Irans Homosexual E-Magazine in Persian (it also means
We or Us in
Persian
language). They are located in Iran and they gladly
answered to our
questions
about the situation of homosexuals in Iran as well as
the perception of
the
recent event that sparked international outrage with
Iranian policy.
GayRussia: Can you tell us a bit about the situation
in Iran in terms
of
access to the information for sexual minorities? And
also we would like
to
know about your own MAHA magazine.
MAHA: Last year, the Persian Internet operator company
shut down 15 gay
websites in Iran. To strike back and to provide
information about GLBT
rights
in Iran, and to help to create a nationwide network
for GLBT in the
country, a
few gays decided to start publishing a newspaper
without a website, as
they
knew that the authority would close down their
website, so they decided
to
publish a PDF format magazine and send it by email to
their readers.
After 8 months of hard work, 8 issues and 4
supplements appeared,
covering
issues such as gay and family, depression among GLBT,
a report about
lesbians
in Iran, etc. MAHA also publishes a separate
supplement for gay aid and
to
help GLBT to find a friend. Today MAHA has two
editors, one gay and one
lesbian, and MAHAs readers are all over the country
and even some
Iranian
GLBT in exile. Currently 600 subscribers receive our
magazine and we
know that
more than 1000 people are reading it. This number is
growing every day!
PGLO (Persian gays and lesbians organisation) is an
Iranian GLBT
organisation
working from abroad. They publish a PDF format
magazine and most
important
they send a weekly radio program by email to people
inside Iran.
G.R.: Do you have any further details on what happened
on July 19th
except
what was published in the international media?
MAHA: Unfortunately not much. The authorities try to
give as little
information as possible about issues which may cause
international
reaction.
And as you may know there is already a worldwide
reaction and protests
against
the execution of the two boys.
We know that the two boys (with the names of Mohammad
Askari and Ayad
Marhuni)
belonged to Irans Arab minority, which live in
Khuzestan province, a
province
bordering Iraq. During the 8 years war between Iran
and Iraq, the Arabs
were
forced to leave their home and some of them went to
Mashhad in North
East of
Iran. The two boys were from one of these families.
We also know that the authorities have been giving
conflicting
messages. Some
are denying that the boys were persecuted because of
being gays and
they put
more emphasize on the boys crime (allegedly they have
raped a 13 years
old
boy), but according to the boys lawyer the boys had
said that they did
not
know that such acts (sexual relations with the person
of the same sex)
were
punished by execution. It shows that the boys were
executed because of
having
same-sex intercourse.
The problem in Iran is that there is no harmonised
authority in the
country
and one local authority sometimes makes a decision
contrary to the
other part
of the country.
G.R.: Do you see a possible link with the killing and
the result of the
recent
presidential elections?
MAHA: Its hard to say and its too early to see such
a link. We know
that the
newly elected president is a conservative hardliner,
we know that while
he was
a mayor of Tehran he was very much against cultural
activities (such
culture
activities that promote modern western life style).
But we also know
that he
could not resist the democracy movement and NGO, as we
would like to do
as the
desire for democracy, freedom and separation of
religion from politics
is
indeed strong in Iran.
G.R.: Was this execution event reported in the media
in Iran or not?
MAHA: Yes, it was reputed and even some of
international reaction to
the event
was reported but as you can guess the media is
controlled by the regime
to a
large extent.
However, inside Iran, there is a large number of NGO
like childrens
rights,
womens rights, human rights groups etc. but also Ms.
Shirin Ebedadi
(peace
Noble prize winner) protested against the execution.
The situation in
Iran is
so that no one can talk openly about GLBT rights so
those who
protested, they
protested against execution of children (one of the
boys was clearly
under 18
years old). The other problem is the conflicting
messages from
authorities, so
no one wants to defend someone who raped a young 13
years old boy, as
authority claims now.
G.R.: What is the situation of gays in Iran? How can
gays live in the
atmosphere of constant fear?
MAHA: The GLBT situation in Iran has changed over the
past 26 years.
The
regime does not systematically persecute gays anymore,
there are still
some
gay websites, there are some parks and cinemas where
everyone knows
that these
places are meeting places for gays, furthermore it is
legal in Iran
that
transsexual applies for sex change and it is fully
accepted by the
government.
There are some medias which sometimes (not often)
write about such
issues.
Having said that, the Islamic law, according to which
gays punishment
is death
is still in force but it is thought not much followed
by the regime
nowadays.
You may remember the Soviet days, there was not much
info about
homosexuality
in your country, families and the society could not
accept it and the
regime
did not allow GLBT to have their organisations or to
spread info about
the
issue. The situation is pretty much the same in Iran
today. But thanks
to
Internet and contact with the International community,
people get the
info and
Iran society has changed a lot and support for GLBT
rights is growing
in Iran
though we still have a long way to go.
In the recent elections there was a candidate who put
RESPECT FOR
DIFFERENT
LIFE STYLES in his program. And it was something new.
We do not know
if he
really meant gay life but we know that his front is
not anti gay. In
addition
there is a famous political person, Mr. Akbar Ganji,
who also openly
talks
about RESPECT FOR DIFFERENT LIFESTYLES. Add to that
GLBT which is still
in the
beginning of its journey but it is young and
determined to fight for
GLBT
rights. There are also opposition political groups in
exile and some of
them
voiced their support for GLBT rights in their program.
So, on the whole, we are optimistic about the future
as Irans
situation can
not continue like that and people are pushing for
reforms and changes.
G.R.: How do Iranian gays live knowing that they fear
death penalty in
their
motherland and that in other countries same sex
marriages are already
allowed?
MAHA: Life is not easy, it is mixed with fear,
uncertainty and self
oppression. The biggest problem we are facing is that
GLBT do not have
info
about their sexual desire. They simply can not find
explanation to it.
Why
they feel as they feel (feeling for persons of the
same sex), they do
not know
what it is. What its called etc. but when they get
the knowledge, then
it is
becoming much easier. Not all Iranians have access to
the Internet,
there are
no gay bars or clubs, so creating a network of GLBT is
very difficult.
Bear in
mind that after 8 months of publishing MAHA, still a
great number of
GLBT
people have not got the news.
Many GLBT people are living with denial of their own
sexuality, or they
get
married in hope to disguise and hide their deep
homosexual desire or in
hope
to be cured of it.
G.R.: What can we do from abroad to help you?
MAHA: You have already done too much for us and we are
very thankful
for it.
Irans GLBT struggle is in its beginning and no doubt
that we have a
lot of
challenges in front of us and there are a lot of
obstacles we have to
overcome. The authorities are not going to accept our
right easily. And
they
may even take a hard stand against us. So we are
indeed in need of
International GLBT support. Please do keep an eye on
Iran and demand a
better
life and respect for Iranian GLBT. Your support means
a lot for us and
gives
us energy and encouragement. Despite the fact that you
may not hear
from Iran
GLBT regarding your support, please rest assured that
we hear about it
and we
welcome it but sometimes it is not easy to work and be
in touch with
our
friends abroad. We would like to take the opportunity
and via you say a
big
THANK YOU to ALL GLBT groups and individuals worldwide
who are thinking
of us
and supporting us.
G.R.: Thank you very much for your answers in such a
difficult time. We
are
here to support you and please do not hesitate to ask
for any help you
might need.
GayRussia.Ru, interview conducted by Nikolai Alekseev
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