Influential cleric in Iran blames gays for AIDS
A high-ranking Iranian cleric blames homosexuals for AIDS and considers both gays and their political allies “inferior to dogs and pigs,” the British newspaper The Guardian reported.
The comments from Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi-Amoli, an Islamic scholar based in Iran’s holy city of Qom, came during a speech to his followers.
Citing the Iranian new website Khabar Online, The Guardian quoted him as saying:
“If a society commits a new sin, it will face a new punishment,” he said while interpreting Qur’anic verses about prophet Lot whose tribe Isalmic 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 favour 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 favour of them in their parliaments.”
The Guardian also noted recent changes in the Iranian law about homosexuality. In the recent past, the law called for a death sentence for both parties in a homosexual encounter.
But a recent amendment approved by the Iranian parliament changed the punishment to whipping for the person taking an active role in homosexual intercourse. The punishment for the passive partner remains the death penalty, The Guardian said.
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