QOM, Iran – Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi-Amoli, an Islamic scholar based in Iran’s holy city of Qom, has said in a speech among his followers that homosexuals are inferior to dogs and pigs, according to The Guardian.
The Iranian cleric, who is entitled to issue juristic rulings according to the Sharia law, was condemning western lawmakers involved in the decriminalization of homosexuality.
“If a society commits a new sin, it will face a new punishment,” he said while interpreting Qur’an verses about the prophet Lot whose tribe Islamic scholars say was punished by God for sodomy. “Problems like AIDS did not exist before.”
Citing the Qur’an, Javadi-Amoli said politicians who pass laws in favor of homosexuals are lower than animals. “Even animals … dogs and pigs don’t engage in this disgusting act [homosexuality] but yet they [western politicians] pass laws in favor of them in their parliaments.”
In Iran homosexuality is punishable by death. But according to The Guardian, under new amendments approved recently in the Iranian parliament the person who played an active role will be flogged 100 times if the sex was consensual and he was not married, but the one who played a passive role will still be put to death regardless of his marriage status.
Despite the horrific punishment for homosexuals in Iran, the gay community in the country is alive underground and has won some recognition by coming out in defiance of the regime.
