A human rights group claims three Iranian men have been hanged for having gay sex. Iran Human Rights says state-run Iranian news agency ISNA reported the hangings. It says the men were executed for sodomy, which has a punishment of death and judges can decide how the sentence is carried out. The men were identified only as "M. T.", "T. T." and "M. Ch." Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, a researcher at Iran Human Rights who is investigating the executions, told The Independent: “Iranian authorities have previously presented such cases as rape, in order to make the execution more acceptable and to avoid too much international attention, but this time the news is not presented as rape.” He added: “This case is the only one in recent years where the only basis for the death sentence has been a sexual relationship between two men, with reference to the articles 108 and 110 of the Islamic Penal Code. These articles are very clear.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Saturday, 10th September 2011 - 1:03pm