Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni

Mahmoud Asgari (Persian: محمود عسگري‎‎), aged 16, and Ayaz Marhoni (Persian: عياض مرهوني‎‎), aged 18, were Iranian teenagers from the province of Khorasan who were publicly hanged in Edalat (Justice) Square in Mashhad, northeast Iran, on July 19, 2005. They were executed after being convicted by the court of having raped a 13-year-old boy. The case attracted international media attention. The British lesbian, gay and bisexual group OutRage!, alleged that the teenagers were executed for consensual homosexual acts and not rape.

Human Rights Watch condemned the executions of the juveniles but also stated "There is no evidence that this was a consensual act," and observed that "The bulk of evidence suggests that the youths were tried on allegations of raping a 13-year-old, with the suggestion that they were tried for consensual homosexual conduct seemingly based almost entirely on mistranslations and on cursory news reporting magnified by the Western press." It also stated that it was "deeply disturbed by the apparent indifference of many people to the alleged rape of a 13-year old."

The U.S. periodical The Nation published a lengthy investigation of the story. It criticized the role of Peter Tatchell and OutRage! in spreading the belief the executed youths were gay before it had examined the evidence. The article concluded that, given Tatchell's "recent statements, it seems likely that his ideological disposition caused him to look past or dismiss information that cast doubt on the “gay teenagers” story." But it also accepted the possibility that Marhoni and Asgari were hanged simply for engaging in consensual homosexual sex.

Shari'a (Islamic Law) prescribes the death penalty for homosexual acts, but the Convention on the Rights of the Child, of which Iran is a signatory, forbids the execution of juveniles. According to Asgari's lawyer, Rohollah Razaz Zadeh, "death sentences handed to children by Iranian courts are supposed to be commuted to five years in jail", but the Supreme Court in Tehran upheld the death sentence. The ages of the boys remain unclear, with some sources claiming they were fourteen and sixteen at the time of their arrests and sixteen and eighteen when executed.

...
Wikipedia