Reports have emerged that two men in Iran were executed after six years on death row, killed after being convicted on charges of ‘sodomy’.
Mehrdad Karimpour and Farid Mohammadi were sentenced to death by hanging. Under Iranian law homosexuality is illegal, and in 2016 the pair were arrested for sexual intercourse between two men.
In Iran, the death penalty can be applied to those charged for ‘sodomy’, adultery, armed robbery and murder.
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, international LGBTQIA+ rights activist Peter Tatchell said the deaths were part of a long-standing regime of state-sanctioned murder.
“The international community must impose Magnitski sanctions on the regime officials, judges and prison staff who authorised these executions,” Tatchell said.
“And on those responsible for the many other human rights cases of abuse in Iran.”
Amnesty International is also drawing attention to the case of Iranian LGBTQIA+ activist Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani (pictured), who has been held in custody for three months after appearing on a BBC documentary examining LGBTQIA+ rights in northern Iraqi Kurdistan.
“An Iranian gender nonconforming human rights defender Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani, known as Sareh, has been arbitrarily detained in Urumieh, West Azerbaijan province, since 27 October 2021 due to her real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity as well as her social media posts and statements in defence of LGBTI rights,” Amnesty said in a statement.
“Authorities have ill-treated her and threatened to convict her of “spreading corruption on earth”, which carries the death penalty.”
In October 2021, Sedighi-Hamadani was arrested while passing through Iran, attempting to flee Iraqi Kurdistan for Turkey. Sedighi-Hamadani was charged with “spreading corruption” and “promoting homosexuality.”
Human Rights Activists New Agency have reported that in 2021, 299 people were executed in Iran, which includes four people who were convicted of their crimes as minors.
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