Iranian man publicly hanged over charges of gay sex, abduction of boys

31-year-old executed in south of country, local citizenry said to ‘express satisfaction’

An Iranian man was hanged earlier this month for having gay sex and “abducting two 15-year-old children,” the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) reported.

The public execution of the 31-year-old man was carried out in the southern city of Kazeroon on January 10.

Gay sex is punishable by death under Iranian law. No further information was provided on the abduction charges.

ISNA said “the citizens of Kazeroon expressed satisfaction and thanked the judiciary” after the execution.

Homosexuality is a taboo topic in Iran, where gays and lesbians can face lashings or death sentences if convicted. Human rights groups estimate that over 4,000 gays have been executed since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Famously, former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a crowd at New York’s Columbia University in 2007 that “in Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like in your country.”

AP contributed to this report.