Iranian Cleric Falsely Claims People 'Become Homosexuals' After COVID-19 Vaccine
Regime official Ayatollah Abbas Tabrizian triggers outrage over claims about vaccinations
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A senior cleric in the Islamic Republic of Iran's regime has triggered outrage by claiming that people "become homosexuals" after they receive their vaccine for COVID-19.
Ayatollah Abbas Tabrizian stoked fear into the Iranian public by issuing the "warning" that the vaccination turns people into “homosexuals” - a crime in Iran that is punishable by death.
Tabrizian made the outrageous claims Tuesday to his nearly 210,000 followers on social media, according to the Jerusalem Post.
“Don’t go near those who have had the COVID vaccine,” the radical Islamist wrote.
“They have become homosexuals.”
Tabrizian, who lives in the religious capital of Qom and whose followers refer to him as ayatollah, has a history of promoting bigotry and false information about Western medicine.
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Last year, the totalitarian burned “Harrison’s Manual of Medicine” in a videotaped ceremony, claiming that “Islamic medicine” had made such books “irrelevant,” according to Radio Farda, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty broadcast service.
"Like other clerics in the regime, also Tabrizian relates all the shortages [shortcomings] to sexuality,” Iranian dissident Sheina Vojoudi told the Jerusalem Post.
"The clerics in Iran are suffering from lack of knowledge and humanity.
"Actually, his goal of spreading nonsense is to try to scare people [out] of getting vaccinated, while the leader of the regime and other officials got Pfizer, and they don’t provide it for the people with the excuse that they don’t trust the West.”
A prominent gay rights advocate told the Israeli paper that the scare tactics of many Iranian religious and political leaders often combine ignorance and hatred.
“He’s demonizing both the vaccination program and LGBT+ people without a shred of evidence,” Peter Tatchell reportedly said.
“By seeking to scare the public into not getting vaccinated against COVID-19, he is fueling the pandemic and putting lives at risk,” Tatchell added.
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Same-sex sexual activity is punishable by execution in Iran, according to The New York Post.
Thousands of gay people have been put to death since the Iranian Revolution in 1979.
In 2019, an Iranian foreign minister defended those atrocities to Germany’s public broadcasting network.
“Our society has moral principles,” Mohammed Javad Zarif told Deutsche Welle.
"And we live according to these principles.
"These are moral principles concerning the behavior of people in general.
"And that means that the law is respected and the law is obeyed."
In 2018 and 2019, Iran executed at least nine children, as the US ratcheted up sanctions after accusing the country of violating a 2015 nuclear deal.
