A series of smiling Instagram photos of diplomats wearing purple and enjoying cupcakes has caused a spat between Iran and Australia, with the Australian ambassador summoned to explain the \u201cdisrespectful\u201d behavior. <\/p>\n
The Australian Embassy in Tehran posted photos on Monday to mark Wear It Purple Day, an annual celebration of LGBTQIA+ youth founded in Australia. <\/p>\n
\u201cToday, and every day, we\u2019re dedicated to creating a supportive environment, where everyone, especially LGBTQIA+ youth, can feel proud to be themselves,\u201d the caption read. <\/p>\n
The post drew swift condemnation from Iran\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which deemed it \u201cdisrespectful and contrary to Iranian and Islamic cultural norms,\u201d according to state news agency IRNA. <\/p>\n
Homosexuality is illegal in Iran, which considers same-sex relations a breach of Islamic values, punishable under the country\u2019s Sharia-based law. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe official Instagram page of the Australian Embassy in Tehran has promoted homosexuality in a derogatory post,\u201d IRNA reported. <\/p>\n
Australian ambassador Ian McConville responded by saying the embassy \u201chad no intention of offending the Iranian people,\u201d according to IRNA. <\/p>\n
The bi-lingual post on the official Australia In Iran Instagram account has drawn thousands of likes and comments, including from the German Embassy Tehran which responded with three purple heart emojis. <\/p>\n
Asked about the diplomatic spat in an interview with Australia\u2019s national broadcaster, the ABC, government minister Murray Watt said he was \u201cconcerned\u201d about Iran\u2019s reaction to a message he said was in keeping with his own country\u2019s values. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe support all Australians, regardless of their sexual orientation, their gender, their race, and I am concerned to see this reaction from the Iranian government to the activities of the Australian embassy,\u201d Watt told the ABC. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very proud about the fact that our embassies promote Australian values internationally and I\u2019m very concerned to see an overseas government seemingly take action against an Australian embassy that is upholding Australian values,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
According to Amesty International, LGBTQIA+ people suffer \u201csystemic discrimination and violence in Iran,\u201d where the punishment for consensual same-sex relations ranges from flogging to the death penalty. <\/p>\n
Iranian authorities have sentenced rights advocates to death over posts on social media. <\/p>\n
In 2021 prominent Iranian LGBTQIA+ campaigners Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani and Elham Chobdar were arrested and later sentenced to death for alleged crimes including \u201ccorruption on earth\u201d and \u201cpromoting homosexuality\u201d over social media, according to the US government and Amnesty International. <\/p>\n
Both advocates were released on bail in 2023, and Sedighi-Hamadani fled Iran for an \u201cundisclosed country\u201d the next year. Chobdar was re-arrested in 2024 and remains in detention, according to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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A series of smiling Instagram photos of diplomats wearing purple and enjoying cupcakes has caused a spat between Iran and Australia, with the Australian ambassador summoned to explain the \u201cdisrespectful\u201d behavior. The Australian Embassy in Tehran posted photos on Monday to mark Wear It Purple Day, an annual celebration of LGBTQIA+ youth founded in Australia. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7251,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7250","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}