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Iran Focus
 Tehran,
Iran, Nov. 13 – Two young men were hanged in a public square in the
northern city of Gorgan after being found guilty
of lavat, or homosexual relationship, a semi-official
daily reported on Sunday.
The two men, identified as Mokhtar N. and Ali A.,
were aged 24 and 25 years old respectively. They were hanged in public in Shahid Bahonar Square in Gorgan, the daily Kayhan
wrote.
The newspaper said the “criminal past” of the two young men included
kidnapping and rape, but the report made it clear that the “crime” for
which they were hanged was lavat, which means
homosexual relationship between two men or sodomy.
The execution of two homosexual teenagers in the city of Mashad in July
provoked an international outcry. The hard-line government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vowed
to follow a tougher line to implement Islamic law in Iran.
Under Iran’s
Islamic Penal Code, homosexuality between consenting adults is a capital
crime and official Iranian sources express hostility to homosexual
practices. A state radio commentary on March 7, 2005 criticised
gay marriages in Western countries. Ayatollah Ebrahim
Amini, an influential cleric, said in his
Friday-prayer sermon in Qom that gay and lesbian
marriages reflect a weakness of Western culture, state television reported
on July 13, 2002. Ayatollah Ali Meshkini in his
Friday-prayer sermon in Qom criticised
the German Green Party for being pro-homosexual, state television reported
on April 29, 2000.
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