IRAN. GAY BLACKMAILER HANGED

20 June 2005 :

Hadi Safdari, an Iranian convicted of blackmailing his gay partners with videotapes of their sex acts, was hanged. 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.
 

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