On 13 March, Respect Renewal MP George Galloway commented in relation to the now-halted deportation of a gay Iranian man, Mehdi Kazemi: “All the papers seem to imply that you get executed in Iran for being gay. That's not true.”
Kazemi's boyfriend was hung by the Iranian regime but Galloway maintained this was “not for being gay”, but for “committing sex crimes against young men.” He offered no evidence for this allegation.
The MP's comments were denounced by gay rights activist, Peter Tatchell, who accused Galloway of “mouthing the propaganda of the homophobic dictatorship in Tehran.”
Topics: LGBTQ+