A cleric in the Iranian regime has told his followers that the vaccination of COVID-19 turns people into ‘homosexuals’, punishable by death in Iran.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Ayatollah Abbas Tabrizian made the outrageous allegations on the social media platform Telegram on Tuesday.
“Do not go near those who have had the COVID vaccine,” the radical Islamist wrote to his nearly 210,000 followers. “They became homosexuals.”
Tabrizian, who lives in the religious capital of Qom and whose followers call him an ayatollah, has a history of spreading and falsifying information about Western medicine.
Last year, the totalitarian “Harrison’s Manual of Medicine” in a video recording ceremonyand claims that “Islamic medicine” has made such books “irrelevant”, according to Radio Farda, a Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty broadcasting service.
‘Like other clergy in the regime, Tabrizian tells all the shortcomings [shortcomings] to sexuality, ”Iranian dissident Sheina Vojoudi told the Jerusalem Post.
“The clergy in Iran are suffering from knowledge and humanity. In fact, its purpose is to spread nonsense, to try to scare people [out] to be vaccinated, while the leader of the regime and other officials got Pfizer, and they do not give it to the people the excuse that they do not trust the West. ”
A leading gay rights advocate told the Israeli newspaper that the intimidation tactics of many Iranian religious and political leaders often combine ignorance and hatred.
“He demonizes both the vaccination program and LGBT + people without a bit of evidence,” Peter Tatchell reportedly said.
“By frightening the public not to be vaccinated against COVID-19, he is fueling the pandemic and endangering lives,” Tatchell added.
Same-sex sexual activity is punishable by execution in Iran, and thousands of gay people have been killed since the Iranian revolution in 1979, according to the Israeli newspaper.
In 2019, an Iranian foreign minister defended the atrocities against Germany’s public broadcasting network.
“Our society has moral principles. And we live by these principles. These are moral principles regarding the behavior of people in general. And that means that the law is respected and the law is obeyed, “Mohammed Javad Zarif told Deutsche Welle.
In 2018 and 2019, Iran executed at least nine children because the US imposed sanctions after accusing the country of violating a 2015 nuclear deal.