NEWS Gay Iranian publicly hanged on sodomy charge Anthony Cuesta | November 16, 2006 TEL AVIV — A gay Iranian man was hanged in public on Tuesday in the western city of Kermanshah on the charge of sodomy. Shahab Darvishi was charged with organizing a “corruption ring”, deliberate assault, and “lavat”, which means homosexual relationship between two men or sodomy, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported. Darvishi was hanged in the evening in Kermanshah’s “Freedom Square” in front of hundreds of people, the IRNA report said. Under Iran’s Islamic Penal Code, homosexuality between consenting adults is a capital crime and official Iranian sources express hostility to homosexual practices. The hanging brings the number of people executed in Iran this year to at least 117, according to a tally from global news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP). The tally is based on media and witness reports. Amnesty International told the AFP there were 94 executions in Iran in 2005. Capital offences in the Islamic republic include murder, rape, armed robbery, apostasy, blasphemy, serious drug trafficking, repeated sodomy, adultery or prostitution, treason and espionage. – Issued by Gay Link Content Related stories Iran – 10 Arabs face execution