Ruling Islamists of Iran are furious about leaked explicit videos featuring senior clerics and government officials engaged "in compromising situation"engaging in gay sex, explicit same-sex exchange and drug use." These videos, circulating widely on social media, have exposed the private lives of those who are considered the moral authorities in Iran, a country where homosexuality is outlawed and punishable by severe sanctions, including death.
One of the leaked sex tapes stars Reza Saqati, director general of the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. From France24:
Reza Seghati is known for being a hardline conservative and for his efforts to increase restrictions on women's social freedoms, including tightening mandatory headscarf regulations. For instance, he spearheaded the "Neighbourhood hijab and virtue chastity" watchdog campaign in Gilan province to help enforce headscarf laws.
The homosexual video of him triggered an outcry on Iranian social media, as people online accused him of hypocrisy. Although he has been called a "champion of Islamic values and the Islamic family" by Gilan province conservatives for his extremist beliefs, these videos allege that he is leading a double life.
But the rulers aren't furious about the morality police engaging in hypocritical behavior. It's the video leakers who should be punished because they embarrassed the morality police.
From The Messenger:
Mojtaba Zolnouri, deputy speaker of the Iranian parliament, said Wednesday that the real culprits were the leakers who had embarrassed Iran's religious leadership.
"The crime of those who released these videos of fornication is greater than that of the fornicators," Zolnouri said at a visit to a monastery in northern Gilan province.
Alireza Kazemi, an Iranian PhD candidate in cognitive and developmental psychology at UC Davis, pointed out in a tweet that being gay is not the issue, but rather the "lies, hypocrisy and deception." Translation: "We should be careful not to label a homosexual relationship as a vice or any other label that the Islamic Republic attaches to homosexuals. We should not repeat their behavior and condemn what happened. The problem here is not Saqati's sexual relationship with another man, but the lies, hypocrisy and deception."
