GenQ - For the not so straight individual

Religious zealoutry taken too far has seen a 20-year-old Iranian man executed in Kermanshah Central Prison in the early morning hours of Dec. 5. Makvan Mouloodzadeh was accused of committing anal rape on other young boys back when he was 13 years old. In the ensuing years, the witnesses in the case all recanted their testimony, and Mouloodzadeh himself told courts that his confession at the time was coerced and false.

Nonetheless, a criminal court in Western Iran found the young man guilty last June, and sentenced him to death. The sentence was upheld by the Iranian Supreme Court in July, but under international pressure, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court stayed the sentence pending further hearings last month, writing that the conviction appeared to violate religious law. According to Human Rights Watch, Mouloodzadeh’s case was then sent to a special court that is charged with investigating questionable matters and then sending these flawed cases back to the original courts for rehearings. But instead of following this procedure, the reviewing court simply backed the earlier rulings and ordered the death sentence to be carried out at once. Mouloodzadeh’s family was not warned of the execution. Nor was his lawyer.

�This is a shameful and outrageous travesty of justice and international human rights law,� said Paula Ettelbrick, executive director of the New York-based IGLHRC. “How many more young Iranians have to die before the international community takes action,� she asked.

Mr. Mouloodzadeh’s execution came days after a panel at the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty. Shame on those who let this happen.