LGBT Republic of Iran: An Online Reality?
3.3. Punishment
“In Rajaeeshahr prison anyone who is a little bit ‘pretty,’
demonstrates a lack of physical strength, or doesn’t have any money in their bank accounts to pay off their attacker with a bribe, is forced into different cells [to be raped] and they are
rotated around different cells each night. Every ‘object’ [passive sex partner] has a pimp who makes an income from doing this and after a few times they sell him onto the next guy … Across
Rajaeeshahr prison sodomy is both commonplace and accepted” In its 2010 annual report, Amnesty International documented
an open letter signed by 26 political prisoners and addressed to the prison board. The open letter confirms the rape and torture of inmates and calls for a stop to harassment tactics, which 11
Amnesty International’s
2010 report is available online at
http://report2010.amnesty.org/
includesexual assault, of prisoners by guards and intelligence officers.11 The family members of victims have also confirmed
that prison authorities ignore complaints of rape. Hadi Ghaemi, the director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, stated (in Kellogg 2011),
“We know rape was used as a form of punishment against
post-election protestors on a wide scale, and within prisons
today, rape appears to be common, encouraged by prison guards as a way to punish targeted prisoners”
// In addition, a former member of the Basij security forces
informed Amnesty International that dozens of boys had been rounded up in Shiraz following the 2009 protests against the
presidential elections, held captive in shipping containers and systematically raped. After expressing concerns to his leader,
the former Basiji was detained for 100 days and beaten before facing a mock execution (Amnesty International 2011).