What much of the world does not realize is that Iran did not invent this policy; nor did Saudi Arabia. It is a part of Sharia law, justified with references to Muhammad’s own orders: “Kill the one who sodomizes and the one who lets it be done to him.” Thus, this aspect of Sharia becomes an issue for its potential enforcers or targets wherever it is proposed (or demanded).
From Adnkronos International, September 23:
Tehran, 23 Sept. (AKI) – Nemat Safavi, arrested almost three years ago at the age of 16, has been condemned to death by a court in Ardebil, in the northwest Iranian Azerbaijan region.
Nemat has not killed anyone, stolen anything or even carried out any political activism.
Nemat has been accused of having homosexual relations.While that was not stated during the court case, he was accused of “sexual relations that were not admitted”.
A year ago, on a visit to Colombia University in New York, Iran’s hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said “there were no homosexuals” in Iran in response to a question from a student.