by Rex Wockner
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
The European Parliament on March 10 adopted a resolution urging Iran to "stop discriminating against people on the basis of their sexual orientation" and denouncing "the inhumane and medieval practice of sentencing people to death for alleged offences pertaining to choice of partners or sexual practices."
The parliament also welcomed "steps taken by several Member States to provide shelter to those Iranian human rights defenders, dissidents, journalists, students, women, children and artists who are persecuted for their religious beliefs, opinions, sexual orientation, or other aspects of the exercise of their human rights."
Iran has the death penalty for consensual homosexual sex. While no such executions have been documented in recent years, it is widely believed they may have occurred. Executions are known to have taken place in recent years following convictions in cases of alleged nonconsensual sex between males.
