Last year, this story was factchecked, and it turned out to be a piece of propaganda concocted by MEK, a terrorist group that worked for Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War and is therefore universally despised in Iran*: <http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20050808/017000.html>.
One can still protest their execution on the grounds that one is either against all executions or against execution of minors, but they were not executed for being gay but for being rapists:
<blockquote>Research conducted by the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International has found, so far, that the teenagers were convicted of and executed for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old male, a crime that occurred when the two teens may have been minors.
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It appears that reports claiming the boys were executed for being gay originated with the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an opposition group that is classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. Accounts of the executions on gay news Web sites referenced reports by the group and its English language news site, www.iranfocus.com.
(Elizabeth Weil-Greenberg, "Mixed Reports on Iran Teen Hangings: Watchdog Groups Dispute Claims Two Were Executed for Being Gay," Washington Blade, 29 July 2005, <http://www.washblade.com/2005/7-29/news/worldnews/iran.cfm>)</blockquote>
* <blockquote>MEK Tricks US Progressives, Gains Legitimacy by Rostam Pourzal
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In Iran, where the militia has been known since its inception in 1965 as Mojahedin, or jihadists, MEK lost all credibility after it became a proxy of Iran's archenemy, Saddam Hussein, in 1986. Anne Singleton, a former insider and now an advocate for penitent MEK activists in Europe, has labeled the militia "Saddam's private army" in her book-length memoirs by the same title.
A day before the Berkeley forum took place, the far-right daily Washington Times was busy promoting MEK's annual convention in the US capital. Perhaps you remember a similar cozy relationship the Moonie newspaper had with Nicaragua's Contra mercenaries and with UNITA, the rebel army that terrorized Namibia on behalf of the Reagan Administration and apartheid South Africa. A Reagan-era Pentagon official and leading architect of the Iraq invasion, Richard Perle, was the keynote speaker at MEK's 2004 convention.
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At the 2005 convention, held three blocks from the White House, "The crowd gave rapturous applause to words of support from Republican Senators Kay Hutchinson from Texas and James Talent from Missouri," reported an official MEK website, referring to the conservative senators' solidarity messages read by staffers.
The notorious John Ashcroft did not mind backing the mercenaries, either. According to Newsweek, "When Mahnaz Samadi, one of [MEK's] spokeswomen, was detained by U.S. immigration authorities in early 2000 on grounds that she did not disclose her past 'terrorist' ties, including her role as a 'military commander' for the MEK, John Ashcroft, then a senator, wrote a letter of 'concern' to Attorney General Janet Reno. . . . Ashcroft described Samadi as a 'highly regarded human-rights activist' and a 'powerful voice for democracy.'".
Added Newsweek, "When the National Council of Resistance staged a September 2000 rally outside the United Nations to protest a speech by Iranian President Mohammed Khatami, Missouri's two Republican senators -- Ashcroft and Chris Bond -- issued a joint statement of solidarity that was read aloud to a cheering crowd . . . and a picture of a smiling Ashcroft was later included in a color briefing book used by MKO officials to promote their cause on Capitol Hill."
On the House side, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Miami is MEK's leading supporter, as a full-page MEK ad in the New York Times made clear on January 15, 2003. She is a member of the Committee on International Relations and considered a leading contender for its chairmanship after this year's elections. Re-elected continuously since 1988 with the help of south Florida's powerful Cuban and Zionist extremists, she is known for authoring or co-sponsoring all legislation that promote sanctions or regime change against Syria, Iran, Cuba, and lately Venezuela.
FULL TEXT: <http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/pourzal120606.html></blockquote> -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>