Regarding a young man sentenced to death for homosexual acts in Iran

Iran Human Rights, September 23: According to the site "Iranian human rights activists", Nemat Safavi (20), son of Akbar, has been sentenced to death for "lavat" (a term used for sexual acts between men), and his sentence is now sent to the supreme court for final approval.

According to this report, Nemat who is born in 1988, was arrested in 2006, and at that time he was a minor.

Iran Human Rights is currently investigating further details on this case.

According to the same site two others men identified as "Hamzeh Chavi" (19) and "Loghman Hamzehpour" (20) were sentenced to death for homosexual acts in February 2008 in Sardasht.

International human rights organizations have reported hrw.org/english/docs/2005/11/21/iran12072.htm" class='spip_out' rel='external'>several executions for homosexual acts in the past years in Iran. However, it is believed that the Iranian authorities use increasingly charges such as "rape" for death penalties issued for homosexual acts.