The Search for Makwan Moloudzadeh

wheninthecourseofhumanevents
A few days ago I got into a mini battle with a local blogger called AtlMalcontent. To make a short story even shorter, he posted about Makwan Moloudzadeh, an Iranian man scheduled to be executed for having Lavat (anal sex) when he was 13 years old. AM said he was 14, when in fact he is 21. I objected to this, said a few things about Amnesty International, which AM objected to.
A good time was had by all, with the possible exception of Mr. Moloudzadeh.
My curiosity was aroused. I looked in Google for more information, and found out a few things.
The Internet being the omnivore that it is, when you go looking for something, you are liable to find anything. Keep a grain of salt handy.
The bad news is, I learned little new about Makwan Moloudzadeh or Amnesty International. Most of the google entries( my post was number 15) are a rehashing of the Amnesty Report, with little new information. I still have questions as to why the government (is it local, regional, or national?) is pulling this case out of the files 8 years after the fact. I suspect that some bigshot has a problem with Mr. Moloudzadeh, and this is a handy charge to throw at him. This would not be an inspiring call to arms.
I did find a site by Amnesty that listed Mr. Moloudzadeh. He is not shown any priority over the other cases listed on the page. Amnesty seems to have a reasonable balance, with cases from literally all over the world. I had been concerned that maybe they were showing preferred treatment to the Moloudzadeh case to win favor with the Bush Regime.
The original post by Malcontent had a link to Kamingir. He is an Iranian national living in Canada, and has quite a lively site. There are lots of pictures of people being hung, including a fortune teller in Qom. Evidently fortune tellers aren't the magnets for activism that gays are.
Gayswithoutborders is an activist group on the order of Amnesty International or Medecins Sans Frontieres. GWB (note initials) has a story on "Alex". He fled Iran to live in Greece, where he met his lover. Now, he is fighting deportation back to Iran. There is another story about the problems faced by Gays in US occupied Iraq.
Stopchildexecutions is a myspace page that tries to do what its name says. As mentioned above, the hangman is busy in Iran, and they don't have a problem with executing minors. "While we are gathered by the fire singing Christmas songs, I want the children in the cold prison cells in Iran to know that they are not forgotten. I want them to feel hope that they have another chance at life. We are a completely volunteer based organization, so every penny goes directly to the campaign." said Nazanin.

According to the United Nations, a child is a person under the age of 18. Despite the fact that the government of Iran has signed International Covenants that forbid them to execute anyone who has allegedly committed an offence before the age of 18, they continue to do so. Amnesty International has documented 24 executions of child offenders in Iran since 1990. In many cases, these minors have been imprisoned until the age of 18 and then executed. Currently, there are over 80 minors on death row in Iran. "
TheGayDissenter is a german-english affair. In meiner Anmerkung zu JK Rowlings Dumbledore-Outing hatte ich mich gefragt:



nowforthereallygoodstuff
As a reward to all of those who have read this far, the last two sites I will link to are a lot of fun. Proceed At Own Risk is a ribald New Yukker, with lots of great pictures. He has a post called "Islam, Gay Genocide and George W. Bush", which is not complimentary of our fearless leader. Apparently the persecution of Gays is more widespread than Iran. "Considering that insanely wealthy and grotesquely oil-powerful barbaric nations like the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are among our closest allies--and that their royal families are among the close personal friends of the Bush and Cheney families, one has to wonder just how much these artifacts of Medieval times inform Bush administration policy when it comes to the treatment of gay Americans...The United States devotes billions of dollars of the world's most advanced military technology and American troops to function as private security forces for the absolute monarchs of these nations in exchange for control of the oil fields. And no one in Washington--Republican or Democrat-- seems particularly troubled by the fact that when they pull their cars, limos and SUV's into the nearest gas station, they're not pumping gas, rather they are pumping the blood of gay children."
This is on top of a tribute to the Empire State Building titled "The ESB: My Favorite Erection".
Then there is QueerJihad. What a great name for something. And they are jam packed with hours of entertainment. There is the story of Fatah and Hamas seeking to discredit each other by releasing videos of officials in compromising situations.
There are quotes from Ayatollah Khomeini
A man can have sexual pleasure from a child as young as a baby. However he should not penetrate, sodomising the child is OK. If the man penetrates and damages the child then he should be responsible for her subsistence all her life. This girl, however does not count as one of his four permanent wives.
The man will not be eligible to marry the girls sister.
From Khomeini's book, "Tahrirolvasyleh", fourth volume, Darol
Elm, Gom, Iran, 1990
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is better for a girl to marry in such a time when she would
begin menstruation at her husband's house rather than her father's home. Any father marrying his daughter so young will have a permanent place in heaven.
From Khomeini's book, "Tahrirolvasyleh", fourth volume, Darol
Elm, Gom, Iran, 1990
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A man can have sex with animals such as sheep, cows, camels and so on.
However he should kill the animal after he has his orgasm. He
should not sell the meat to the people in his own village, however
selling the meat to the next door village should be fine.

From Khomeini's book, "Tahrirolvasyleh", fourth volume, Darol
Elm, Gom, klkibv Iran, 1990

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"If one commits the act of sodomy with a cow, a ewe, or a
camel, their urine and their excrements become impure, and
even their milk may no longer be consumed. The animal must
then be killed and as quickly as possible and burned."

The little green book, Sayings of Ayatollah Khomeini,
Political, Phylosophica, Social and Religious with a special
introduction by Clive Irving, ISBN number 0-553-14032-9, page
47


There was this tidbit:
TWO men in Saudi Arabia have been sentenced to 7000 lashes each after being convicted of sodomy and have received their first round of punishment in public, a newspaper said today.

At one point in this weeks discussion, Malcontent said thus: "Amnesty requires scrutiny? Would you be saying that if they publicized a similar incident in, say, Saudi Arabia (one of our alleged allies)?
Back to QueerJihad, which is more fun than feeding Mike Vick to a room of starving pit bulls.
Aside from lots of stories about Arab/Persian men who enjoy the company of other men, there is the stories of what the soldiers are finding in Afghanistan.Culturally, Afghanistan seems to share some of the traits of the ancient Greeks. According to one Afghan soldier, "Women are for babies, and men are for pleasure." This place American, British and Australian special operators in a unique and precarious predicament in how to deal with southern Afghanistan's flagrantly homosexual community, which appeared to be quite extensive, especially in the isolated mountainous regions of Afghanistan.
"Well..with this new development...the SF 1 Qualification Course developers at Fort Bragg are now going to have to incorporate a new lesson: how to deal with gays in an unconventional warfare environment", said one of the Green Berets.
British Marines also had their share of interactions with the 'Girly boys". According to journalist Chris Stephen, British Marines had sent patrols into the mountains near the town of Khost, hoping to catch up with AQ suspects who the week before had fought a four-hour gun battle with soldiers of the Australian SAS. When they came out of the mountains, they claim they were swarmed by local farmers, who stroked their hair, offered to paint their toenails, and propositioned them for sex.
"They were more terrifying then the AQ. One bloke who had painted toenails was offering to paint ours," recalled Marine James Fletcher.
"It was hell," added British Marine Corporal Paul Richard. "Every village we went to, we got a group of men wearing makeup coming out, stroking our hair and cheeks and making kissing noises. Some of the guys turned tail and fled. It was hideous."

"I think a lot of the problem is that they don't have the women around a lot," said one British Marine.

spell check suggestions for this feature:
Qom- com, mom, tom, yom, eom
myspace- misplace, misspoke
Cheney- Cheyenne, teeny
limos- limas, limes, limbs, limps
Vick- Vicki, vice,

When 14 turns out to be 21

warpedworldviewweeklyworldnews
The headline of the post was eye catching..."If a 14-year-old boy is hanged in Iran, does anybody hear it? . It gets better as you read, and the call for action got the attention of this cynic reporter. There is only one problem...he is 21.
Now, I don't know what I think.
A bit of background is in order. Makwan Moloudzadeh has been sentenced to death by hanging. He is accused of anally raping a 13 year old boy. He himself was 13 at the time. Several of the witnesses against him have recanted their testimony.
This is the sort of thing the government in Iran does. There was a well documented case of some teenagers hung to death for the crime of homosexual acts.

My first comment was a bit of this and that, about how we might be doing more harm than good by protesting...as if the beards in Iran care what a slack blogger in Georgia thinks. Nonetheless, my conscience told me I should do something, and so I looked at the Amnesty International report...and found the news that Makwan Moloudzadeh was born in 1986. He was 13 at the time of the alleged rape. He was not 14, as the bloodcurdling headline read, but 21.
Now, to be executed at 21 for something you did (supposedly) when you were 13 is reprehensible. However, it does not have the same sting to it as hanging a 14yo. Discovering that error was an AHA moment. It made me question a few more things about the case.
"The headline of this piece is not accurate. Mr. Moloudzaden is 21, not 14.
The alleged rape occurred in 1999, when both Mr. Moloudzadeh and the reputed victim were 13.
Now, this raises all sorts of questions, which go above and beyond the (fairly certain) mistreatment of Gays in Iran...even if Mr. Ahmadinejad's translator said these peeps don't exist.
To execute someone eight years after the fact ,for a crime committed at age 13, is pretty outrageous. Even for a rowdy regime like the one in charge in Iran.
I suspect there is something about this we are not being told. Is Mr. Moloudzadeh a dissident, or the relative of dissidents? Is he accused of something else? Why would a government pull a charge like that out of the archives?
If there is more to this story, then it does not speak well for Amnesty International to be publicizing it. Maybe they are the organization that needs a bit of scrutiny.
Or maybe they are trying to curry favor with the Government in Washington. There is little doubt that some elements of our government would like to see military action against Iran. We are in a pre war phase, where one of the goals is to create ill will against the enemy du jour. While it is true that our government will not nuke Iran to save gays ( We destroyed that village to save it), stories like this will create ill will against the government there, and could, in the long run, contribute to military action against Iran. And yes, this action would kill a lot of civilians.
If we really want to help the gays in Iran, maybe we should insure that Amnesty International is not exploiting them for their own purposes.
I just may have gone too far with that comment. I looked at the Amnesty Website a few minutes ago( the parts that were working), and saw no mention about Mr. Moloudzadeh on the home page, or the "take action" page. I don't know how or why it is getting the attention it is getting here.
I do stand by my statement that Amnesty International is not above suspicion. While they do have a long history, they can make mistakes. Also, many such organizations can get more into turf battles and fund raising than the actual work they exist for.
There is also the possibility that Amnesty is seeking to give the appearance of "balance". Since I imagine they are concerned with the issue of torture and other abuses by the American war machine, it might be a good idea to look at the practices of the enemies of America.
But, so much of this is the disappointment in finding out that Mr. Moloudzadeh is seven years older than first represented. The idea of executing a teenager is abhorrent to most of us, and gets a lot of attention. I felt I had been led on when I found out he was really 21, even though the facts are essentially the same.
Sometimes images are more important than the reality behind them. It can hurt your ability to trust when you find out they are not completely true.


mamaahmadinejadmadedinner
Later in the day....
I wrote the above stuff at lunch. I get home to discover a post by AtlMalcontent about my "warped world view " ( Is that the new publication from the people who gave us "Weekly World News"?)
First, though, I wanted to take another view at the Amnesty website. Apparently the Moloudzadeh situation is not a priority with Amnesty International. It is not mentioned on the home page or the "Act Now" page. I don't know how many cases they are following now, or what the criteria are for being listed.
I may have been in error in suggesting that Amnesty was currying favor with the Bush administration. I maintain that they are not above suspicion, and do sometimes make mistakes.
I also say in my defense that I used the phrase "maybe" to describe this suspicion. This is not the same as a hard core accusation. And, If I hadn't had the AHA moment of discovering thatMr. Moloudzadeh is 21 instead of 14, I might not have even speculated about the role of Amnesty International.
Now, for the rest of this. When I say that persecution of Gays in Iran is "Fairly certain", I mean exactly that. How this is being taken for a sign of doubt is puzzling.
"Wouldn't you be at least a little concerned if they acquired nuclear weapons?"
Yes, I would, but I am also concerned that our government is using that issue to rush us into another disastrous war. I also fail to see the connection between Mr. Moloudzadeh and nukes...except that Mr. Moloudzadeh is a Kurd, and would probably be early victims of an Iranian nuke.
And, for the record, I think the scheduled execution of Makwan Moloudzadeh is a disgrace. To execute a MAN for a crime committed when he is 13 years old is horrible. The fact that it is because of Gay Sex only makes it worse. Affairs like this are an argument against the death penalty, no matter what kind of society it is in. This affair speaks very poorly for Iran.