It is the first time that the death penalty has been imposed on lesbian women because of their sexual orientation. In addition to Zahra Sedighi-Hamedani, the court in the northwestern city of Urmia also sentenced the 24-year-old LGBTQ activist Elham Chubdar to death.
Annette Widmann-Mauz MdB, Federal Chairwoman of the Women's Union of the CDU Germany, and Alexander Vogt, Federal Chairman of the Lesbians and Gays in the Union (LSU), are appalled and jointly declare: "We are deeply shaken by the unimaginable degree of inhumanity that is now directed with particular cruelty against two women who still have their whole lives ahead of them. Not to mention the threats, repression, and torture to which they are defenselessly exposed. This must awaken us to take up all possibilities – including at the political level – once again to decisively oppose this inhumane practice from Germany."
The LSU has already called early on for development cooperation programs, especially those promoting private sector engagement, to be more closely examined in order to influence the human rights situation on the ground. Furthermore, German companies in Iran are urged to exert pressure on compliance with human rights and, above all, to take a stand regarding the situation of LGBTQ people. The existing cultural and scientific cooperation with Iran must also be used to advocate for the universal validity of human rights, emphasizes the Women's Union.
The LSU and the Women's Union call on the Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid, Luise Amtsberg, to advocate for the repeal of the death sentence and the release of Zahra Sedighi-Hamedani and Elham Chubdar.
Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, thousands of people are said to have been executed in Iran because of their sexual orientation. Because Iranian courts mix forms of extramarital or same-sex sex with sexual violence in their judgments, an accurate assessment of the numbers is difficult. Nevertheless, international media have repeatedly been able to report on it. Independent reporting is often not possible in Iran itself, and many court rulings, especially in the more rural regions of the country, rarely become public.
