Yesterday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke at Columbia University. During his presentation, he received the following question:

Iranian women are now denied basic human rights and your government has imposed Draconian punishments, including execution, on Iranian citizens who are homosexuals. Why are you doing those things?

At first, Ahmadinejad tried to avoid the question by talking about drug dealers and capital punishment, but Columbia University President Lee Bollinger pressed Ahmadinejad to answer the question. The result is in the video.

Ahmadinejad’s answer was so bad, such an apparent lie, that the audience that had applauded his earlier answers laughed. Not with him — at him.

Unfortunately, Iran’s treatment of homosexuals is no laughing matter. Mere Rhetoric has graphic photos and video.

Cox & Forkum has a political carton of Ahmadinejad’s answer.