Middle East Workers' Solidarity have called a demonstration for March 22nd in defence of Mehdi Kazemi, and support the international campaign against his deportation to Iran.
We were therefore extremely disappointed to hear today the comments of George Galloway MP on a Channel 5 talk show, playing down the homophobic nature of the Iranian regime and slandering Mehdi Kazemi's boyfriend. Among other comments, Galloway alleged that Mehdi's boyfriend had not been hanged because he was gay, but instead because of "sex crimes with young men".
Galloway went on to insinuate that those who defend Kazemi are adding to "propaganda against Iran", implying that they support a war drive against that country.
Galloway's claims are ill-informed and non-sensical, even beyond the obvious fact that Iran has repeatedly executed men for being gay, since "sodomy" is a capital offense, and does not even spare under-18s who commit this "crime".
It is also nonsense to claim that criticising the British government for planning to deport a man whose life is in danger in some way amounts to supporting its imperialist ambitions. Indeed, what activists including Middle East Workers' Solidarity campaigners are doing is highlighting the government's contempt for democracy and human rights.
Nor do we accept that opposing war and sanctions against Iran - which we do, wholeheartedly, since it can bring no progress - means whitewashing the Ahmedinejad regime and pretending that it is a bastion of democracy. The anti-war movement needs to tell the truth if it is to deserve to get a hearing. Opposing war is part of our solidarity effort, but not to the exclusion of our other principles.
The video of Galloway's comments is here
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