Gay blackmailer hanged in Iran

2005-04-30 13:36

Tehran - An Iranian convicted of blackmailing his gay partners with videotapes of their sex acts has been hanged, reports said on Saturday.

Hadi Safdari was executed in Bojnourd in the eastern province of South Khorasan, the Qods newspaper said citing the local judiciary.

In Safadari's case, the death sentence appears to have been handed down for rape, as the blackmail was deemed to have removed any element of consent.

But Iran's Islamic regime also imposes the death penalty for consensual "sodomy" where the offence is repeated and the convict is an adult of "sound mind".

Safadari had previously served 18 months in prison for murdering his wife, and was released early after he was forgiven by her family. He also reportedly had a long history of robbery, abduction and other offences.

The judiciary gave no details on the execution.

Safdari's accomplice, identified only as M Sh, was sentenced to lashes and imprisonment, Qods said, without elaborating on his part in the crimes.

So far this year, Iran has executed at least 15 people, according to a tally based on witness and press reports.

In 2004 at least 159 people were executed in the Islamic republic - the highest rate in the world after China - according to human rights watchdog Amnesty International.

As well as repeat sodomy and rape, murder, armed robbery, apostasy and serious drug trafficking are all punishable by death in Iran, which enforces a strict form of Islamic law.

- AFP