1336699330_NooseIran:Two men were publicly hanged in a southern Iranian city on what the Iran Human Rights suspects are charges of same-sex relations.

“Since there was no mention of rape in the report there is possibility that these men were sentenced to death for sexual relationship with the same sex,” the Iran Human Rights said.

The two were among four hanged in public on Aug. 6 in the city of Shiraz. Details of charges for two were unavailable while the other two were hanged for offenses given as kidnapping and rape, according to 76crimes.com.

“We urge international condemnation of today’s barbaric executions. … Iranian authorities should be held accountable for these inhumane acts,” Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, spokesperson of Iran Human Rights was quoted as saying.

The two prisoners executed for alleged charges of same-sex relations were identified as “Abdollah Gh. Ch.” and “Soleiman Gh. Ch” according to information garnered from the official website of the Iranian Judiciary in Fars province.

There has been a spate of hangings in Iran recently. One was hanged in public after being convicted of kidnapping and rape of a woman and another hanged in prison for sexual abuse of minors. Both were reported executed in Karaj, according to 76crimes.com.

Three other were hanged in public in Shiraz on Aug. 3 on charges of rape and armed robbery, it added.

The opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran has confirmed that “In the time span of just three days from August 3 to 6, twenty-two prisoners were hanged by the inhumane clerical regime in the cities of Karaj, Shiraz and Chahbahar.”

It reported that a 27-year-old prisoner was also hanged in public after being flogged 100 times as the crowd watched.

Earlier, in a separate account, Iran Press News officially reported the execution of two young gay men on March 2 in their state prison in Rasht.

Of the Islamic states that ban lesbian and gay sex, Iran is the most zealously homophobic. Since 1980, when the current Islamic regime came to power under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini, over 4,000 lesbians and gay men have been executed, according to estimates by the exiled Iranian gay rights group, Homan.

However,  Iran insists that it does not execute people for same-sex relations, and that gay people who have been executed have either committed rape, murder, or drug trafficking,

Iran’s Islamic Penal Code criminalizes any consensual same-sex relations with punishment ranging from 100 lashes for sexual relations between women to death penalty for those between two men.

Source: 76crimes.com