Death Penalty for gays in Iran

As worldwide protests are taking place against the death penalty and criminalization of homosexuality in Iran in the wake of the hanging of two teenage males in the Iranian city of Mashad, new information is coming in from that country casting doubt on the validity of the rape charges the government there used to justify the death sentences. August 11 has been designated as the day for a series of coordinated demonstrations in France, Ireland, the United Kingdom and elsewhere to protest the hangings of Ayaz Marhoni, 18, and Mahmoud Asgari, who was either 16 or 17 according to press reports. On the controversy surrounding official claims that the executed youths had sexually assaulted a 13-year-old boy, Afdhere Jama, editor of Huriyah, an e-zine for Queer Muslims, said his contacts in Iran affirm that the two youths hung in Mashad were lovers.

Iranian Sources Question Rape Charges in Teen Executions
By DOUG IRELAND, Gay City News

By the same author, read also "TWO NEW GAY EXECUTIONS SCHEDULED IN IRAN, SAYS IRANIAN EXILE GROUP"