2005: Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni, gay teens
July 19th, 2009 Headsman
On this date in 2005, two teenagers were hanged in Mashhad, Iran.
Affecting photos of these two youths, their faces etched in fright and grief, their 16- and 18-year-old bodies pitifully boyish next to their executioners, became an immediate worldwide sensation.
These shocking images were quickly followed by a storm of controversy. The crime for which Asgari and Marhoni swung was the rape of a 13-year-old while both the offenders were themselves minors; gay organizations and human rights groups subsequently became mired in contentious dispute over whether (as a factual, legal, or tactical matter) they could be said to have succumbed to a “lethal reign of terror targeting Iranian gays”. For instance, was the conviction reliable, or a pretext? Would these boys actually have self-identified as “gay”?
To that were added charges and countercharges among western campaigners of racism, imperial lickspittle-ism, objective-pro-Islamic-fascism, and the like. Like, awfully convenient that Iran’s longtime dim view of homosexuality has everyone exercised at just the moment bombing Tehran was being openly mooted.
But whatever the text: those pictures. Still, those pictures.
It is certain that both Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni were juvenile offenders, whose execution is anathema almost everywhere in the world but Iran — just one of that country’s unique characteristics.
Also On This Date
Possibly Related Executions
- 2002: ‘Ali bin Hittan bin Sa’id, Muhammad bin Suleyman bin Muhammad, and Muhammad bin Khalil bin ‘Abdullah
- 2007: Not Sina Paymard, saved by a flute
- 2005: Mohammed Bijeh, the desert vampire
Entry Filed under: 21st Century, Capital Punishment, Children, Common Criminals, Crime, Death Penalty, Disfavored Minorities, Execution, Hanged, Homosexuals, Iran, Mature Content, Rape, Ripped from the Headlines, Sex
Tags: 2000s, 2005, ayaz marhoni, july 19, mahmoud asgari, mashhad
3 Comments Add your own
1. nour asghari mahouachi | August 27th, 2009 at 2:33 am
I am ashamed for this! I cant believe this but i know its true, Why the people in Iran choose this man again for president?Of cours we have gays there,whats the problem? This president is a shame for the country and for islam.How I tell my children?Never I let them go to Iran again.Bring REZA back! Viva our SHAH
2. ExecutedToday.com »&hellip | December 17th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
[...] 6. Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni, 2005 [...]
3. Barbara A. Sakowitz | March 6th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
My heart is broken kteer … I recently found out about Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni, even though this took place years ago … it’s as if it ‘just happened’. I do not agree with their life-style of sodomy, anymore than I agree with Mahmoud & Ayaz, being lashed kteer times and then executed by being hanged there in Mashhad, Iran.
The President of Iran Ahmadinejad & the Ayatollah Kharnenei, obviously think very little of the People of Iran … and are determined to kill many, by bringing in the 12th Immam, at the expence of innocent People …
So hanging People, ‘all the time’ has seared their conscience with an hot iron.
Jesus Said, “Father Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
As a follower of Jesus, I must not hate, anyone, only to Love and to Forgive.
Love In The Truth, and you Shall know The Truth, and The Truth Shall Set you Free, Free Indeed,
Barbara http://www.leadingtheway.org
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