"The Canadian government must urgently intervene in the case of a young Iranian man who is awaiting execution after being falsely accused of sodomy, Ontario legislative representative Glen Murray. Ebrahim Hamidi, 19, has been held in detention somewhere in Iran since 2008 after he and three other teenage boys were charged with sodomy following a fight. Charges against three of the co-accused have since been dismissed, but the case against Hamidi continued despite the accuser recanting the sexual assault allegation. Murray said the man's fate now lies with the Iranian Supreme Court, which will decide in the next few months whether to uphold the sentence," reports Linda Nguyen. "If it is upheld and Hamidi is executed — most likely by hanging — it will be the first time a case has proceeded without a plaintiff or proof that a crime even took place. It will also illustrate the real risk of persecution homosexuals still face in many countries. Homosexual acts are still illegal in 58 countries, even if the sex is consensual. In Iran, it is believed that more than 4,000 people have been executed since 1979 after being accused of being gay or lesbian." READ MORE

Ebrahim Hamidi awaiting execution after being falsely accused of sodomy:

Following a fight in the countryside outside Tabriz with a family against which his own had been feuding for some time, Hamidi was picked up with three friends by the police. The four were told that one of the guys from the other family with whom the four were fighting accused them of an attempt at sexual assault. The “testimony” the accuser gave to support this claim was that during the fight his own trousers were 20cm “below what is normal”, implying that the four attempted to strip him naked and assault him. READ MORE