Michael Fabricant MP strongly condemned Iran for its continued human rights abuses and executions of LGBT+ citizen in an article published by The Telegraph last Friday, underlining that the West was “misguided in separating Iran’s gross human right violations from talks over its nuclear programme”.
The MP for Lichfield highlighted the need to call out Iran’s widespread human rights abuses, and the importance of ensuring unilateral support for the country’s persecuted LGBT+ community.
Mr Fabricant stated that Iran is “one of the most dangerous places in the world to live” as an “open and proud” member of the community as homosexuality is a capital offence enforced by the Sharia court system.
He wrote that Iran has one of the highest execution rates in the world, “which all too often flies beneath the radar while human rights groups busily shine the light on other appalling regimes around the world”.
While it is uncertain the exact number of fatalities, a 2008 WikiLeaks report claimed that since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Tehran has executed as many as 6,000 homosexuals. With this remark being over 10 years ago, Fabricant believes it “doesn’t bear thinking about how many more have been murdered since”.
With Iran’s former president claiming that there are no gay people in Iran, countless gay men have been forced to endure sexual reassignment surgery – for many, this is the only way to avoid prosecution.
Mr Fabricant wrote that this view has remained consistent amongst government officials with the western education Foreign Minister Javad Zarif stating that Iran has “moral principles” to uphold in regard to his country’s treatment of its gay citizens.
Mr Fabricant said he believes that trusting Iran “when signing up to the nuclear deal was a big mistake”. He stated: “At no point has Tehran given the impression that it values life in all its many shapes and forms. The Iranian leadership are no friend of ours, and to trust them when signing up to the nuclear deal was a big mistake. To trust them again would be foolhardy and we could reap the whirlwind through a major regional conflict”.
Click here to read the article in full.
