Iranian authorities executed two homosexuals: Convicted of sodomy, they waited six years for the death penalty

Iranian authorities have executed two homosexuals convicted of sodomy who had been awaiting execution for six years, a group of human rights activists said.

Homosexuality is illegal in Iran, which is considered one of the most repressive countries towards lesbian and gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Men Merdad Karimpur and Farid Mohamadi were sentenced to death for "forced sexual intercourse between two men" and hanged in a prison in the city of Maraga, in the northwest of the country, about 500 kilometers from Tehran.

Last July, two more men were executed in the same city under the same charges, the Human Rights Activists group said.

Iran executed 299 people last year, including four convicted of crimes they committed as children. In 2021, 85 people were sentenced to death in Iran.

Under Iranian law, crimes punishable by death include sodomy, rape, adultery, armed robbery and murder.