Male Same-Sex Intercourse in Iran After the Islamic Revolution: Criminal Law and Prosecution Statistics

Before 1979, Iran had a predominantly secular criminal justice system. It was based on a general penal code adopted in the 1920s, modelled on French law.

Certain elements of Sharia criminal law, however, persisted. Sharia courts continued to exist, and Islamic legal norms were applied in some categories of cases, though their role gradually diminished. By 1973, Sharia courts had been formally removed from the judicial system, and the institutional application of Islamic criminal law had ceased.

The Islamic Revolution of 1979 changed this model. The monarchy was overthrown, Iran was proclaimed an Islamic Republic, and the state structure and legislation — including criminal law — began to be rebuilt on a Sharia basis.

Sharia as the basis of criminal law after 1979

After the 1979 Revolution, Iranian legislation was restructured on an Islamic foundation. The Constitution enshrined Sharia as the source of law, and this directly affected criminal law.

The 2013 edition of the Iranian Penal Code describes in detail the punishments for same-sex sexual relations.

Article 233 defines the term “livat” as a sexual act between men. Article 234 prescribes the death penalty for “livat.”

Notes to these provisions specify the conditions of liability. The “active” party is not subject to execution in all cases, but only under certain conditions: if married, or if the act is classified as rape. The “passive” party is punishable by death in every case. It is further specified that if the “active” participant is a non-Muslim and the “passive” participant is a Muslim, the “active” party is also subject to execution.

For other sexual acts between men, the Code prescribes corporal punishment. Article 237 sets a penalty of 31 to 74 lashes for such acts.

For sexual acts between women, a separate term — “musaheqeh” — is used. Article 239 prescribes 100 lashes for this offence.

These punishments belong to the category of Sharia “hudud.” In the Islamic legal tradition, this term refers to punishments for specific offences considered to have been established by sacred texts and therefore not subject to judicial discretion. In classical understanding, such punishments are to be imposed only upon extremely strict evidence — for example, the testimony of four witnesses. In practice, however, sentences are also handed down on vaguer grounds related to “offences against morality.”

Separately, Article 302 of the Penal Code introduces the concept of mahdur al-dam — literally “one whose blood is forfeit.” It denotes a person for whose killing, under certain conditions, there is no obligation to pay “blood money” (financial compensation) and no kaffara (religious expiation) applies.

If the victim committed a “hudud” offence — among which “livat” is counted — the killing does not entail payment of blood money or kaffara. In formal terms, this can create a situation in which those who kill a person for a “crime against morality” are shielded from part of the legal consequences.

How such cases are initiated

In practice, cases involving same-sex sexual contact are described by Iranian authorities using broader charging formulas — for example, “sodomy” or “debauchery.” In many such cases, a confession becomes the primary evidence. According to human rights organisations and media reports, defendants frequently confess under pressure — including torture — and without access to legal counsel.

There is little open and systematic information about judicial practice. A significant part of what is known comes not from official court publications but from investigative journalism and reports by human rights organisations. According to these sources, defendants in “sodomy” cases are tried under summary procedures, and coerced confessions are used routinely.

Known cases of executions

Data on such cases is limited, but individual executions from various periods are documented.

In March 2005, a Tehran court sentenced two men to death for a homosexual act that was reportedly recorded on video.

In November 2005, two men aged 24–25, identified in reports as Mokhtar N. and Ali A., were hanged in Gorgan on charges of “lavat.”

It was also reported that in 2006, another public hanging of a man on charges of sodomy took place in Kermanshah.

A case from 2022 is also known. On 30 January 2022, two men — Farid M. and Mehrdad K. — were hanged at Maragheh Prison in East Azerbaijan Province. They had been convicted of what was described as “forced sodomy.” The defendants maintained that the contact was consensual, but the court classified it as rape.

Surveillance, raids, and pressure on detainees

Iran’s morality police monitor “suspicious” individuals and conduct raids, including on private parties and participants in online chat rooms. Such cases were documented in particular in Shiraz in 2003–2004.

After detention, suspects are pressured into confessing by security forces, including through the use of torture. Before sentencing, the accused remain in custody and effectively spend the entire trial process in detention.

The nature of such treatment is illustrated by the testimony of activist Ramtin Zigorat, who received asylum in Spain after fleeing Iran. According to him, following his arrest he spent 40 days in a detention facility where he was subjected to “physical and psychological torture”: he was beaten, humiliated, filmed, and, as he described it, “treated like an animal.”

Zigorat also stated that he received several death sentences on charges of “espionage,” “spreading homosexual diseases,” and “opposing Islam.” He said he was then transferred to another prison where inmates were forced to watch executions in the courtyard. He claimed that his mother secured his release through bribes, selling land to raise the money. After that, he remained effectively confined to his home for two more years. Later, relatives helped him leave Iran, and he made his way to Spain. There, as Zigorat himself has said, he is still haunted by nightmares.

Statistics: documented cases and estimated ranges

There is no official statistics on the number of cases and executions for sodomy in Iran. Researchers and human rights organisations therefore rely on media reports and scattered NGO data. As a result, estimates vary considerably.

According to counts by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center (ABC) and Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO), at least 107 executions on charges related to homosexuality were documented between 1979 and 1990. This is a conservative estimate based solely on documented cases.

A report by Monash University, published in February 2021, gives a higher figure: 241 executions for the same offences between 1979 and 2020. This is a research estimate based on compiled cases.

Considerably higher estimates also exist. Individual activists, human rights defenders, and opposition journalists speak of thousands of executions — roughly 4,000 to 6,000 from the Revolution to 2020. However, there is no public corroboration for these figures.

The British Home Office / CPIN report of 2025 cites an estimate according to which more than 4,000 people may have been executed for homosexual acts since 1979. The same report states that between 2015 and 2020, at least 6 men were executed for homosexuality, and mentions 10 death sentences for homosexual acts in 2020.

The overall picture remains uncertain. Based on available evidence, such executions were not a mass and continuously visible practice, but rather episodic cases scattered over time. However, the cumulative total over decades, depending on the counting methodology, may range from hundreds to thousands.

This divergence is explained by differences in counting methodology. Some authors count only documented cases; others include broader estimates based on testimony from human rights defenders, activists, and indirect evidence.

Table of estimated executions in Iran for “sodomy” and other homosexual acts

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