Capital punishment for homosexuality
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Capital punishment as a criminal punishment for homosexuality has been implemented by a number of countries in their history. It is a legal punishment in several countries and regions, all of which have Islamic-based criminal laws, except for Uganda.
Gay people also face extrajudicial killings by state and non-state actors in some states and regions of the world. Locations where this is known to occur include Iraq, Uganda, and the Chechnya region of Russia. Imposition of the death penalty for homosexuality may be classified as judicial murder of gay people.
In current state laws
{{Further|LGBTQ rights by country or territory|LGBTQ people and Islam|Capital punishment in Islam|Sodomy law|Sharia#Islamization}}
File:Death Penalty for Consensual Homosexual Activity.png |quote=...{{nbsp}}'full legal certainty' is understood as the absence of disputes about whether the death penalty can be legally imposed for consensual same-sex sexual conduct. This legal certainty may be derived from the existence of written, codified laws unequivocally prescribing the death penalty for same-sex conduct{{nbsp}}... Conversely, the lack of clear provisions mandating the death penalty for consensual same-sex sexual acts, the existence of disputes between scholars and experts with regard to the interpretation of ambiguous provisions, and the need for judicial interpretation of certain 'generic' crimes to encompass consensual same-sex sexual acts has led ILGA World to classify the remaining five UN Member States{{nbsp}}... as jurisdictions where there is no full legal certainty. ... It bears mentioning that in all five states{{nbsp}}... there is full certainty that the alternative in default of the death penalty is always a provision of law criminalising consensual same-sex sexual acts with corporal punishment, imprisonment and/or a fine. Therefore, this uncertainty does not hinge on 'criminalisation vs non-criminalisation', but rather on the severity of the penalties imposed.}}{{rp|25}}}}}}]]
The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) reported in 2020 that in at least six UN member states—Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria (some states in northern Nigeria), Saudi Arabia, and Yemen—homosexual activity is punishable by death. These six were joined in 2023 by Uganda, which became the only Christian-majority country (82% Christian in 2024){{cite report|page=29|title=National Population and Housing Census 2024: Final Report|url=https://www.ubos.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/National-Population-and-Housing-Census-2024-Final-Report-Volume-1-Main.pdf|publisher=Uganda Bureau of Statistics|date=December 2024|volume=1}} with capital punishment for some consensual same-sex acts.{{cite news |last1=Assheton |first1=Richard |title=Uganda anti-homosexuality bill sets death penalty as punishment |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/uganda-anti-homosexuality-bill-death-penalty-nsbm3m7k0 |newspaper=The Times|location=London |date=23 March 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230531032804/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/uganda-anti-homosexuality-bill-death-penalty-nsbm3m7k0 |archive-date=31 May 2023}}{{cite web |title=Helping Our LGBTQ+ Brothers and Sisters in Uganda |url=https://www.rainbowfund.org/uganda-lgbtq |website=Rainbow World Fund}} Excepting Uganda, all countries currently having capital punishment as a potential penalty for homosexual activity base those laws on interpretations of Islamic teachings called sharia laws.{{Cite report |date=March 2021 |archive-date=29 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629141336/https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2021-03/2021%20Factsheet%20-%20Sharia%20and%20LGBTI.pdf |author=((USCIRF)) |title=Shari'a and LGBTI Persons: The Use of Shari'a as Religious Justification for Capital Punishment Against LGBTI Persons |url=https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2021-03/2021%20Factsheet%20-%20Sharia%20and%20LGBTI.pdf |url-status=live |publisher=United States Commission on International Religious Freedom |place=Washington D.C. |page=2}}{{rp|25, 31}} One source states that in 2007 alone, five countries had carried out executions for homosexuality.{{cite book |last1=Asal |first1=Victor |last2=Sommer |first2=Udi |title=Legal Path Dependence and the Long Arm of the Religious State: Sodomy Provisions and Gay Rights across Nations and over Time |date=2016 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-1-4384-6325-4 |page=65 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zOdNDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA65 |via=Google Books}}{{rp|p=65}} In 2020, the ILGA stated that Iran and Saudi Arabia were the only countries in which government-sanctioned executions for consensual same-sex sexual activity had taken place since 2000.{{rp|38,49,74}}
=Complete legal certainty=
For the countries listed below, no dispute or uncertainty regarding the legal status of capital punishment as a possible penalty for same-sex sexual conduct exists. While clearly allowable, the application or enforcement of the legally-sanctioned death penalty varies across the jurisdictions, with some not having imposed or enacted the penalty for many years or decades, and some never having done so, while others have carried out executions recently and some do so regularly.
As of March 2023, the following jurisdictions allow the death penalty to be imposed for homosexual conduct:
- {{flagicon|Brunei}} Brunei. The {{not a typo|{{lang|kxd|Syariah|italic=no}}}} Penal Code Order ({{langx|kxd|Syariah|lit=sharia}}), prescribes death by stoning for sex acts between men (in abeyance under a moratorium, which may be lifted without warning at any time),{{refn|{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47769964|title=Brunei implements stoning to death under anti-LGBT laws|work=BBC News |date=April 3, 2019}}{{cite news |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/05/asia/brunei-lgbt-death-penalty-intl/index.html|title=Brunei backs down on gay sex death penalty after international backlash|date=6 May 2019 |access-date=6 May 2019|work=CNN}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-08/brunei-moratorium-death-penalty-gay-sex-remains-illegal/11087848|title=Why has Brunei suddenly backflipped on death penalty for gay sex?|work=ABC News|location=Sydney |date=8 May 2019}}{{cite report |title=2021 Report on International Religious Freedom: Brunei |url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/brunei/ |publisher=United States Department of State |date=June 2, 2022 |quote=A 2019 de facto moratorium on the death penalty remained in place.}}{{cite news |last1=Kelleher |first1=Patrick |title=11 countries where LGBTQ+ people still face death penalty urged to abolish it |url=https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/05/17/lgbtq-death-penalty-idahobit/ |work=PinkNews|location=London |date=17 May 2022 |quote=According to Human Dignity Trust, the death penalty is implemented in Iran, Northern Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen, and remains a "legal possibility" in Afghanistan, Brunei, Mauritania, Pakistan, Qatar and UAE.}}{{cite news |last1=Yee |first1=Claudia |title=What explains Brunei's expansion of the death penalty in 2019? |url=https://www.monash.edu/law/research/eleos/blog/eleos-justice-blog-posts/what-explains-bruneis-expansion-of-the-death-penalty-in-2019 |work=Eleos Justice |publisher=Monash University|location=Melbourne |date=31 August 2021}}{{cite magazine |last1=Patto |first1=Kasthuri |title=ASEAN Summit Should Draw Attention to Brunei's Appalling Human Rights Record |url=https://thediplomat.com/2021/10/asean-summit-should-draw-attention-to-bruneis-appalling-human-rights-record/ |magazine=The Diplomat|location=Tokyo |date=29 October 2021 |quote=The moratorium is still in place, but the human rights situation in Brunei remains appalling.}}}} De facto penalty: Seven years in prison and 30 lashes for married men.
- {{flagicon|Iran}} Iran.{{cite report|first1=Aengus |last1=Carroll |last2=Itaborahy |first2=Lucas Paoli|title=State-Sponsored Homophobia: A World Survey of Laws: Criminalisation, protection and recognition of same-sex love |publisher=ILGA |location=Geneva |edition = 12th |url=https://ilga.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2017_WEB.pdf |access-date=15 July 2024 |date=May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422204557/https://ilga.org/downloads/2017/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2017_WEB.pdf |archive-date=22 April 2019}}{{cite report |last1=Carroll |first1=Aengus |last2=Itaborahy |first2=Lucas Paoli |title=State Sponsored Homophobia 2015|date=May 2015 |publisher=ILGA |location=Geneva |url=https://ilga.org/resources/state-sponsored-homophobia-report-2015-ilga/ |edition=10th|archive-date=18 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240618220829/https://ilga.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2015.pdf}} Male-male anal intercourse is declared a capital offense in Iran's Islamic Penal Code, enacted in 1991. Articles 233 through 241 criminalise both female and male same-sex activity; for a first offence, the death penalty only applies to some cases of male-male penile-anal intercourse, with female-female activity and other cases of male-male activity being punished by flogging instead of execution. Under the combination of articles 136 and 238, a woman convicted for the fourth time of the crime of musaheqeh (tribadism) is to be executed; there is no death penalty for non-genital-genital female-female sexual conduct.{{Cite web|publisher=United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees|title=Iran: Islamic Penal Code |date=20 November 1991|url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/518a19404.html|via=Refworld|language=en}} Though the grounds for execution in Iran are difficult to track, there is evidence that several gay men were executed in 2005–2006 and 2016 mostly on alleged charges of rape.{{rp|p=64}}{{cite news|newspaper=The Economist|location=London|title=How homosexuality became a crime in the Middle East|date=6 June 2018|url=https://www.economist.com/open-future/2018/06/06/how-homosexuality-became-a-crime-in-the-middle-east}}
- {{flagicon|Mauritania}} Mauritania. According to a 1984 law, Muslim men can be stoned for engaging in homosexual sex, though no executions have occurred so far.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/13/here-are-the-10-countries-where-homosexuality-may-be-punished-by-death-2/|title=Analysis – Here are the 10 countries where homosexuality may be punished by death|first1=Max|last1=Bearak|first2=Darla|last2=Cameron|date=16 June 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post|location=Washington D.C.|quote=Lawyers in the country and other experts disagree on whether federal law prescribes the death penalty for consensual homosexual sex or only for rape. In a recent Amnesty International report, the organization said it was not aware of any death sentences for homosexual acts.}} The country has observed a moratorium on the execution of the death penalty since 1987.{{cite report |author=Lucas Ramón Mendos |title=State-Sponsored Homophobia: 2019 |url=https://ilga.org/downloads/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2019.pdf |publisher=ILGA |access-date=7 February 2020 |edition=13th |date=2019}}{{rp|347}}
- {{flagicon|Nigeria}} Nigeria. Several northern states have adopted sharia-based criminal laws, though no executions are known.{{rp|359}}
- {{flagicon|Saudi Arabia}} Saudi Arabia. The kingdom does not have codified criminal laws. According to the country's interpretation of sharia, a married man who commits sodomy, or a non-Muslim who engages in sodomy with a Muslim, can be stoned to death. There are unconfirmed reports that two cross-dressing Pakistani nationals were killed by Saudi authorities in 2017, which Saudi officials have denied. Verified executions occurred in 2019.{{cite web | url=https://metro.co.uk/2019/04/27/five-men-beheaded-saudi-arabia-gay-according-confessions-extracted-torture-9328194/ | title=Five men beheaded by Saudi Arabia were gay in claims from 'tortured confession'|newspaper=Metro|location=London | date=27 April 2019 }}{{cite news | url=https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/04/29/man-executed-saudi-arabia-gay/ | title=Man executed in Saudi Arabia admitted to gay sex in "invented" confession | date=29 April 2019 |location=London|publisher=PinkNews}} Homosexuality in Saudi Arabia is proven by four eyewitnesses who have seen the penetration, or a self confession; if these conditions are not met they can not be stoned but can be given discretionary punishments like lashing and imprisonment.{{Cite magazine|title=Keyan Keihani, A Brief History of Male Homosexuality in the Qur'an, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Arab-Islamic Culture|url=http://www.iranian.com/Opinion/2005/December/Homosexuality/index.html|access-date=2021-09-27|magazine=Iranian.com}}
- {{flagicon|Uganda}} Uganda. In May 2023, the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023 was signed into law, prescribing the death penalty for certain acts of "aggravated homosexuality". These are defined as: those who have homosexual sex with minors, with persons aged over 75 years, persons with disabilities, without or unable to consent, or with a person who is mentally ill. Anyone convicted of homosexuality more than once, or having infected others with a serious infectious disease such as HIV/AIDS, are also liable to be convicted as perpetrators of "aggravated homosexuality".{{Cite news |last=Okiror |first=Samuel |date=2023-05-29 |title=Ugandan president signs anti-LGBTQ+ law with death penalty for same-sex acts |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/may/29/ugandan-president-yoweri-museveni-anti-lgbtq-bill-death-penalty |access-date=2023-08-28 |issn=0261-3077}}{{efn|Before the Act was promulgated, there was a draft version, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill (Bill no. 3 of 2023), that generated international news coverage. Had it passed intact it would have criminalised merely identifying as gay or non-binary, stipulating that "hold[ing] out as a lesbian, gay, transgender, a queer or any other sexual or gender identity that is contrary to the binary categories of male and female" was committing "an offence of homosexuality" and thus liable to the penalty of ten years in prison. This provision, 2(1)(d), was excluded from the Act that was passed and signed into law.{{cite news |title=Bill No. 3 – The Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023 |work=The Uganda Gazette: Bills Supplement |date=3 March 2023 |volume=CXVI |issue=16 |page=5 |url=https://www.jurist.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2023/03/Anti-Homosexuality-Bill-2023.pdf |publisher=Government of Uganda|via=Jurist}}{{Cite news |first1=Larry |last1=Madowo |last2=Nicholls |first2=Catherine |date=2023-03-21 |title=Uganda parliament passes bill criminalizing identifying as LGBTQ, imposes death penalty for some offenses |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/21/africa/uganda-lgbtq-law-passes-intl/index.html |access-date=2023-03-22 |work=CNN |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Atuhaire |first=Patience |date=2023-03-21 |title=Uganda Anti-Homosexuality bill: Life in prison for saying you're gay |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-65034343 |access-date=2023-03-22}}}}
- {{flagicon|Yemen}} Yemen. Punishment for homosexuality in Yemen can originate from the codified penal code, or from people seeking to enforce traditional Islamic morality.{{cite magazine|title='Egregious violations:' Houthis sentence 9 men to death on dubious 'sodomy' charges in Yemen|magazine=The Advocate|date=27 March 2024|url=https://www.advocate.com/news/houthis-death-sentence-sodomy-lgbtq|last=Adamczeski|first=Ryan}} Article 264 of the national penal code prohibits private consensual homosexual acts between adult men. The stipulated punishment in the law for unmarried men is 100 lashes and up to a year in prison. The law stipulates that married men convicted of homosexuality are to be put to death by stoning.{{cite report|page=53|title=Yemen 2023 Human Rights Report|publisher=United States Department of State|date=2023|url=https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/528267-YEMEN-2023-HUMAN-RIGHTS-REPORT.pdf}} Article 268 of the national penal code prohibits private consensual homosexual acts between adult women. The law stipulates that premeditated acts of lesbianism are punished with up to three years in prison. In addition to the penal code, punishment for homosexuality can originate from people seeking to enforce traditional morality within their own family or for the broader society. In vigilante cases such as this, the punishment for homosexuality is oftentimes death.{{cite web|url=http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/08/no-place-for-gays-in-yemen|title=No Place for Gays in Yemen – Inter Press Service|publisher=Inter Press Service|date=16 August 2013 |access-date=17 December 2017}}
=Legality unclear=
According to the ILGA, there are five UN-member countries where the status of the death penalty as a punishment for same-sex sexual conduct is uncertain. This may be because experts or legal scholars dispute the effect of legal provisions, or because the laws relied upon to potentially sanction the death penalty are the {{Transliteration|ar|zina}} provisions which relate to all sexual behaviours outside marriage, with applicability to homosexual relations uncertain, and so far, only theoretical.{{rp|25}}
{{As of|2020}}, these jurisdictions are:
- {{flagicon|Afghanistan}} Afghanistan. The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan enacted a Penal Code in February 2018 explicitly criminalising same-sex sexual conduct, stipulating prison sentences as the punishment.{{Cite web |publisher=Human Rights Watch |title=Afghanistan: Events of 2020 |date=2020-11-23 |url=https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/country-chapters/afghanistan |language=en |access-date=2022-12-03}} While the ILGA wrote that a "high-profile Islamic scholar" has stated there was a "broad consensus amongst scholars that execution was the appropriate punishment if homosexual acts could be proven", this could only be achieved, in theory, under {{Transliteration|ar|zina}} provisions, applicable to all sexual contact outside marriage.{{rp|429}} The sharia category of {{Transliteration|ar|zina}} (illicit sexual intercourse) according to some traditional Islamic legal schools may entail the hadd (sharia-prescribed) punishment of stoning, when strict evidential requirements are met. The Hanafi school, prevalent in Afghanistan, does not regard homosexual acts as a hadd crime, although Afghan judges may have potentially applied the death penalty for a number of reasons. No known death sentences for homosexuality occurred after the end of Taliban rule in 2001.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/13/here-are-the-10-countries-where-homosexuality-may-be-punished-by-death-2/ |title=Here are the 10 countries where homosexuality may be punished by death |newspaper=The Washington Post|location=Washington D.C. |date=16 June 2016 |access-date=25 August 2017}}{{cite web |url=https://deathpenaltyworldwide.org/database/#/results/country?id=1 |publisher=Cornell Law School|location=Ithaca, New York, USA |title=The Death Penalty in Afghanistan |archive-date=10 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250110112229/https://deathpenaltyworldwide.org/database/#/results/country?id=1}} However, following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, fears of reprisal including death for those suspected of homosexuality were renewed.{{cite web |url=https://thehill.com/policy/international/569741-they-will-kill-us-if-they-find-us-lgbt-afghans-fear-new-taliban-regime |title='They will kill us if they find us': LGBT Afghans fear new Taliban regime |newspaper=The Hill|location=Washington D.C. |date=29 August 2021 |access-date=6 September 2021}} A Taliban spokesman told Reuters in 2021: "LGBT{{nbsp}}... That's against our Sharia law".{{Cite news|publisher=Reuters |title=Taliban say gay rights will not be respected under Islamic law |url=https://www.openlynews.com/i/?id=074ee892-e6ea-497b-85d5-206b794bd1aa|date=29 October 2021}} A Taliban judge said that "For homosexuals, there can only be two punishments: either stoning, or he must stand behind a wall that will fall down on him".{{Cite news |title=This Taliban judge orders stoning, hanging, hands chopped of |url=https://www.bild.de/politik/international/bild-international/this-taliban-judge-orders-stoning-hanging-hands-chopped-of-77067554.bild.html |access-date=2022-12-03 |newspaper=Bild|location=Berlin |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2022-01-26 |title=LGBT People in Afghanistan After the Taliban Takeover |url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2022/01/26/even-if-you-go-skies-well-find-you/lgbt-people-afghanistan-after-taliban-takeover |publisher=Human Rights Watch |language=en}}
- {{flagicon|Pakistan}} Pakistan. Hudood punishments for homosexuality include execution. However, the Hudood Ordinances have not been enforced "since the 1985 lifting of martial law", according to the U.S. State Department, and there are no known cases of Hudood being applied to same-sex sexual conduct. No known executions for homosexual activity have ever occurred in Pakistan.{{cite report |quote= The penalty for conviction of same-sex relations is a fine, two years to life imprisonment, or both{{nbsp}}... the Hudood Ordinance of 1979 criminalizes sexual intercourse outside of marriage in accordance with sharia, with penalties of whipping or, potentially, death. There have been disputes as to whether the Hudood Ordinance notionally applies to both opposite-sex and same-sex conduct, but there were no known cases of the government applying the ordinance to same-sex conduct, and there have been no known cases of executions for homosexuality.|title=2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Pakistan |url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/pakistan/|date=2021 |publisher=United States Department of State |chapter=Section 6. Discrimination and Societal Abuses}}
- {{flagicon|Qatar}} Qatar. Same-sex sexual activity is prohibited under the Penal Code 2004, which criminalises acts of "sodomy" and "sexual intercourse" between people of the same sex. These provisions carry a maximum penalty of seven years' imprisonment. Both men and women are criminalised under this law. The death penalty may be applicable to Muslims, for certain types of extramarital sex regardless of the gender of the participants. However, there is no evidence that the death penalty has been applied for consensual same-sex relations in private taking place between adults.
- {{flagicon|Somalia}} Somalia. Insurgents and Somali officials have imposed sharia-based law in several southern states. In territories controlled by al-Shabaab homosexuality is punishable by death.
- {{flagicon|United Arab Emirates}} United Arab Emirates. On occasion, Sharia courts have gone beyond codified laws and imposed sentences of stoning or flogging for {{Transliteration|ar|zina}} crimes, thus theoretically making same-sex sexual activity liable to the death penalty, as occurring outside marriage. All cases of these rare sentences have involved heterosexual activity; all have, so far, been overturned.{{r|name=ILGA2019|p=479|q=However, it is through the Sharia code that the death penalty theoretically can apply to same-sex sexual relations through the offence of {{Transliteration|ar|Zina}}, which applies to sexual relations outside of marriage of any sort. However, it appears that the law is used in rape cases only although in some cases courts have gone beyond codified laws and imposed harsher sentences of stoning and flogging for {{Transliteration|ar|Zina}} crimes.}}{{cite report|author1-first=Lucas Ramón |author1-last=Mendos |author2=Kellyn Botha|author3=Rafael Carrano Lelis|author4=Enrique López de la Peña|author5=Ilia Savelev|author6=Daron Tan |display-authors=1|title=State-Sponsored Homophobia Report: Global Legislation Overview Update, 2020 |url= https://ilga.org/downloads/ILGA_World_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_report_global_legislation_overview_update_December_2020.pdf |publisher=ILGA |location=Geneva |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201215114401/https://ilga.org/downloads/ILGA_World_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_report_global_legislation_overview_update_December_2020.pdf |archive-date=15 December 2020 |language=en |date=14 December 2020|edition=Updated}} While adherence of the country's legal system to sharia allows for capital punishment for same-sex sexual activity— as with other sex acts by married persons outside marriage under {{transliteration|ar|zina}} provisions,{{cite act |article=354 (Prohibition of Sexual Violence)|title=Federal Law 3 of the Penal Code |date=1987 |url=https://data.unwomen.org/global-database-on-violence-against-women/country-profile/United%20Arab%20Emirates/measures/Article%20354%20of%20Federal%20Law%203%20of%20the%20Penal%20Code%20(Prohibition%20of%20Sexual%20Violence)|via=UN Women|publisher=UAE Ministry of Justice}}{{cite news|newspaper=Official Gazette of the United Arab Emirates|title=Death Penalty|date=8 December 1987 |url=https://elaws.moj.gov.ae/UAE-MOJ_LC-En/00_PENALTIES%20AND%20CRIMINAL%20MEASURES/UAE-LC-En_1987-12-08_00003_Kait.html?val=EL1 |page=7 |issue=182|publisher=UAE Ministry of Justice|quote=Without prejudice to the provisions of the Law on juvenile delinquents and displaced, death penalty shall be imposed on whoever used coercion in having sexual intercourse with a female or sodomy with a male.}} there are no known instances of imposition of the death penalty {{as of|2020|lc=yes}}, according to the British non-profit Human Dignity Trust,{{efn|name="trust since 2015"}}{{cite web |title=United Arab Emirates: Criminalisation - Enforcement 2020 |url=https://www.humandignitytrust.org/country-profile/united-arab-emirates/ |publisher=Human Dignity Trust|location=London |date=2020 |access-date=7 August 2022 |language=en}} the {{abbr|ILGA|ILGA}},{{r|name=ILGA2020|p=82|q=...{{nbsp}}some scholars{{nbsp}}... interpret{{nbsp}}... [this provision] as applicable to consensual same-sex sexual activity, while others hold that 'it takes a stretch to read [it] as a criminalisation of consensual sex with the Arabic word for "coercive" syntactically placed as it is'.}} the U.S. Department of State,{{cite report |title=2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: United Arab Emirates|url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/united-arab-emirates/|date=2021 |publisher=United States Department of State |chapter=Section 6. Discrimination and Societal Abuses|quote=Both civil law and sharia criminalize consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults. Under sharia individuals{{nbsp}}... could be subject to the death penalty. Dubai's penal code allows for up to a 10-year prison sentence for conviction of such activity, while Abu Dhabi's penal code allows for up to a 14-year prison sentence. There were no known reports of arrests or prosecutions for consensual same-sex conduct [in 2021].}} and other organizations.{{Cite news|last=Batha|first=Emma|publisher=Thomson Reuters Foundation |title=Stoning - where does it happen?|date=29 September 2013 |url=https://news.trust.org/item/20130927165059-w9g0i/|quote=...{{nbsp}}sentences were later reduced to one year and deportation.}}
Extrajudicial executions
{{further|Social cleansing|Honor killing|List of acts of violence against LGBTQ people|Persecution of gay and bisexual men by the Islamic State}}
In some regions, gay people have been murdered by Islamist militias and terrorist groups, such as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in parts of Iraq, Libya, and Syria, the Houthi movement in Yemen, Hamas in the Gaza Strip as well as in Malaysia.{{cite news |title=Under ISIS: Where Being Gay Is Punished by Death |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/isis-gay-punished-death/story?id=39826182 |work=ABC News |date=13 June 2016}}{{cite magazine|last=Broverman|first=Neal|date=2 March 2016|title=Hamas Leader Accused of Gay Sex, Killed|url=https://www.advocate.com/world/2016/3/01/hamas-leader-accused-gay-sex-killed|magazine=The Advocate|access-date=2016-03-01}}
= Persecution by Islamic State =
{{see also|Persecution of gay and bisexual men by the Islamic State}}
= Chechnya =
{{Further| Anti-gay purges in Chechnya }}
Anti-gay purges in Chechnya, a predominantly Muslim region of Russia, have included forced disappearances—secret abductions, imprisonment, and torture—by local Chechen authorities targeting persons based on their perceived sexual orientation.{{cite magazine |title=A Victim of the Anti-Gay Purge in Chechnya Speaks Out: 'The Truth Exists' |url=https://time.com/5633588/anti-gay-purge-chechnya-victim/ |magazine=Time |date=26 July 2019}} Of one hundred men, whom authorities detained on suspicion of being gay or bisexual, three have reportedly died after being held in what human rights groups and eyewitnesses have called concentration camps.{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Lydia |title=Chechnya detains 100 gay men in first concentration camps since the Holocaust |url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/chechnya-detains-100-gay-men-first-concentration-camps-since-holocaust-1616363|access-date=16 April 2017 |work=International Business Times |date=10 April 2017}}{{cite magazine |last1=Reynolds |first1=Daniel |title=Report: Chechnya Is Torturing Gay Men in Concentration Camps |url=http://www.advocate.com/world/2017/4/10/report-chechyna-torturing-gay-men-concentration-camps |access-date=16 April 2017 |magazine=The Advocate |date=10 April 2017}}
= Iraq =
{{Broader| Extrajudicial killings in Iraq }}
Extrajudicial killings have occurred in Iraq.{{Cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/23/iraq-impunity-violence-against-lgbt-people|title=Impunity for Violence Against LGBT People|publisher=Human Rights Watch|date=23 March 2022 |language=en|access-date=2022-06-17}} Cases include abductions, torture, rape and murder by vigilante mobs, militia and other perpetrators. LGBTQ people living in fear of their lives, campaigners Human Rights Watch (HRW) and IraQueer found. HRW's LGBTQ rights researcher Rasha Younes said: "LGBT Iraqis live in constant fear of being hunted down and killed by armed groups with impunity, as well as arrest and violence by Iraqi police, making their lives unliveable."{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-60859049 | title=LGBT people in Iraq live in fear of lives - HRW | work=BBC News | date=17 May 2022 }}
= Malaysia =
{{broader| LGBTQ rights in Malaysia }}
In Malaysia, extrajudicial murders of LGBTQ people have also occurred.{{cite magazine |last1=Lang |first1=Nico |title=Rape and Murder of Teen Shows Lack of Justice for LGBT Malaysians |url=https://www.advocate.com/world/2017/7/06/rape-and-murder-teen-shows-lack-justice-lgbt-malaysians |magazine=The Advocate|access-date=12 December 2022 |language=en |date=6 July 2017}}{{cite web |last1=Ghoshal |first1=Neela |title='The Deceased Can't Speak for Herself': Violence Against LGBT People in Malaysia |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/06/25/deceased-cant-speak-herself-violence-against-lgbt-people-malaysia |publisher=Human Rights Watch |access-date=12 December 2022 |language=en |date=25 June 2019}}{{cite news |last1=Yi Lih |first1=Beh |title=Death of transgender woman in Malaysia sparks fears of rising hate crime |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/malaysia-lgbt-crime-idUSL8N1YM12C |publisher=Reuters |access-date=12 December 2022 |language=en |date=17 December 2018}} There are no Malaysian laws that protect the LGBTQ persons from discrimination and hate crimes.
= Sub-Saharan Africa =
Instances of killings by mobs and vigilantes, family violence, and other abuse from the community towards LGBTQ persons{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jan/27/ugandan-gay-rights-activist-murdered|title=Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato found murdered|last=Rice|first=Xan|date=27 January 2011|work=The Guardian|access-date=1 August 2019|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}{{cite report |title=Human Rights Violations Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) People in Ghana: A Shadow Report |date=August 2015 |url=https://uprdoc.ohchr.org/uprweb/downloadfile.aspx?filename=4447&file=EnglishTranslation |type=PDF |via=United Nations Human Rights Council}}{{Cite report|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/204346.pdf|title=Liberia 2012 Human Rights Report|publisher=United States Department of State|date=2012|access-date=1 August 2019}} have been reported in regions of Africa heavily influenced by conservative Christianity and Islam. Such incidents have occurred in: Algeria,{{cite news | title='He is Gay' Written on a Wall in Blood, as Algerian Student is Murdered on Campus | url=https://www.albawaba.com/loop/he-gay-written-wall-blood-algerian-student-murdered-campus-1252164 |publisher= Al Bawaba|location=Amman, Jordan |date= February 13, 2019}} Uganda,{{cite news |title=Amid 'Kill the Gays' bill uproar, Ugandan LGBTQ activist is killed |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/amid-kill-gays-bill-uproar-ugandan-lgbtq-activist-killed-n1067336 |work=NBC News |date=16 October 2019}} South Africa,{{cite news |title=Born free, killed by hate – the price of being gay in South Africa |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35967725 |work=BBC News |date=7 April 2016}} Kenya,{{cite web|publisher=Human Rights Watch|url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2015/09/28/issue-violence/attacks-lgbt-people-kenyas-coast|date=28 September 2015|title=The Issue is Violence: Attacks on LGBT People on Kenya's Coast}}{{cite news |title=Gay men hacked with machetes and murdered in wave of hate crimes in Kenya |url=https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/whats-behind-series-recent-violent-hate-crimes-against-gays-kenya170713/ |work=Gay Star News|date=17 July 2013 |archive-date=9 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009214636/https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/whats-behind-series-recent-violent-hate-crimes-against-gays-kenya170713/ |url-status=dead }} Liberia, Ghana, Cameroon, and Senegal. In some locations, police may be unlikely to intervene in incidents or take action on reported abuse;{{Cite web|url=https://www.glaad.org/blog/cameroonian-lgbti-activist-found-tortured-death-home|title=Cameroonian LGBTI activist found tortured to death in home|date=17 July 2013|website=GLAAD|language=en|access-date=1 August 2019|archive-date=17 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517025423/https://www.glaad.org/blog/cameroonian-lgbti-activist-found-tortured-death-home|url-status=dead}} they are at times complicit in the anti-gay violence.{{cite book |first=Philip P. |last=Rodenbough |title=Being LGBT in West Africa |date=July 2014 |publisher=United States Agency for International Development |url=https://blogs.cuit.columbia.edu/rightsviews/files/2015/03/The-Being-LGBT-in-West-Africa-Project-Final-Report.pdf|via=Columbia University}}
= Palestine =
{{anchor|Palestine}}{{Broader| LGBTQ rights in the State of Palestine #violence | label 1 = Violence against LGBTQ people in Palestine | Capital punishment in the Gaza Strip | label 2 = Executions in the Gaza Strip |Pinkwashing (LGBTQ)}}
Homosexuality is not a capital offence in the Gaza Strip or elsewhere in Palestine.{{r|HDT 2023}}{{cite news | last1=Abusalim | first1=Dorgham | title= The Real Oppressors of Gaza's Gay Community: Hamas or Israel? | url= https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2018-03-07/ty-article-opinion/.premium/who-are-the-real-oppressors-of-gazas-gay-community-hamas-or-israel/0000017f-f034-df98-a5ff-f3bd1d870000 | access-date= 26 June 2024 | date= 7 March 2018 |newspaper=Haaretz|location=Tel Aviv}} The laws against homosexual behavior in Palestine{{efn|Some interpretations of these laws say that it does not outlaw consensual gay sex between adults at all. Anis. F. Kassim{{snd}}editor-in-chief of the Palestinian Yearbook of International Law{{snd}}said that the law in question "could be interpreted as allowing homosexuality".}} are a relic of the British and Ottoman rule in Palestine; they specify prison sentences of 10 to 14 years.{{r|HDT 2023}} There is no evidence that these British colonial-era laws are actually enforced in Gaza.{{r|HDT 2023}}
Reports of extra-judicial killings of LGBTQ people in Palestine have circulated, without being confirmed. Sources such as the news agency Reuters, the news outlet The New Arab, and the NGO Human Rights Watch, characterise many of these reports as misinformation: the stories are exaggerated, oversimplified, or misattributions of events that occurred elsewhere.{{r|Reuters video}} Examples of this include:
- Two members of Palestinian nationalist militant groups were accused of espionage and killed by their comrades in situations that included rumours about homosexuality or bisexuality.{{r|New Arab-Spy}}{{r|HRW en}}
- During the Gaza war, a video described as "Hamas executes people by throwing them off a roof of a building!" circulated on social media. Some derivatives of the meme stated the men were executed for being gay.{{r|Reuters video}} The video, however, was from 2015 and not from Palestine.{{r|Reuters video}} A July 2015 report from Al Arabiya, included identical images and states that they were originally shared by the so-called Islamic State, and showed the execution of four gay men in Fallujah, Iraq.{{r|Reuters video}}
== Mahmoud Ishtiwi ==
In February 2016, the Al-Qassam Brigades (the militant wing of the Hamas movement) executed Mahmoud Ishtiwi, the commander of Al-Qassam's Zeitoun Battalion.{{cite news|last=Pfeffer|first=Anshel|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/hamas-leader-files-found-israel-idf-tunnels-gaza-lkmfwpcjm |date=10 March 2024 |title=Hamas leader's torture tactics revealed in IDF tunnel raid|work=The Times|location=London}} The alleged offences were described evasively, the stated reason was {{langx|ar|تجاوزاته السلوكية والأخلاقية التي أقر بها | translation = for behavioral and moral violations, to which he confessed}},{{cite news |title=Palestine: Torture, Death of Hamas Detainee |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/02/15/palestine-torture-death-hamas-detainee |access-date=19 May 2024 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |date=15 February 2016 |language=en}} which some western news media interpreted as a euphemism for homosexual activity.{{cite news|last1=Hadid|first1=Diaa|last2=Waheidi|first2=Majd Al|date=2016-03-01|title=Hamas Commander, Accused of Theft and Gay Sex, Is Killed by His Own|newspaper=The New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/02/world/middleeast/hamas-commander-mahmoud-ishtiwi-killed-palestine.html|access-date=21 May 2021}}{{cite magazine|last=Moore|first=Jack|date=2 March 2016|title=Hamas executed a prominent commander after accusations of gay sex|url=http://www.newsweek.com/prominent-hamas-commander-was-executed-after-accusations-gay-sex-432343|magazine=Newsweek|access-date=2016-04-06}} Hamas accused Ishtiwi of spying for Israel, specifically providing information to Israel which allowed them to locate Mohammed Deif’s house, which was bombed on 19 August 2014 killing his wife and two children but leaving Mohammed alive.{{cite news|title=Hamas armed wing says it executed one of its own members|newspaper=The Peninsula|date=8 February 2016|location=Doha, Qatar|url=https://thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/08/02/2016/Hamas-armed-wing-says-it-executed-one-of-its-own-members}} The Qassam Brigades alleged that Ishtiwi had been executed by firing squad, but people who saw his body before burial alleged that he might have died in custody and been shot after death.
== Lions' Den in Nablus ==
The Zuhair Relit (Lions' Den militant group) in Nablus in the West Bank executed one of their members for sharing information with the Israeli security services that led to the assassination of several leaders of the group. The young man had been bribed and blackmailed by Shin Bet allegedly using a video of him having sex with a male partner.{{r|toi blackmail}}{{r|New Arab-Spy}}{{r|Haaretz Amun 2023}}{{r|i24 targeted}} But it is unclear how this video became public, it may not have been released by the group themselves.{{r|Quds video}}
Hate crimes
{{broader|Hate crime}}
Extrajudicial killings of perceived homosexuals occur in the Western world, with varying levels of condoning, inaction, or condemnation from the social environments in which they occur. Levels of anti-LGBTQ crime vary by location; where they have lesser implicit or explicit societal support{{snd}}from government, influential people or bodies, for example{{snd}}attacks on LGBTQ people, including murders, are often classified as hate or bias crimes, rather than extrajudicial killings.{{Cite news |first1=Silvia |last1=Blanco |first2=Andrea |last2=García Baroja |first3=Silvia |last3=Ayuso|first4=Iker |last4=Seisdedos |first5=Almudena |last5=Barragán |first6=Juan |last6=Esteban Lewin|first7=Naiara |last7=Galarraga Gortázar |first8=José |last8=Naranjo |first9=Trinidad |last9=Deiros |first10=Antonio |last10=Pita |first11=Guillermo |last11=Abril |display-authors=1|date=2023-06-28 |title=The worldwide offensive against the rights of LGBTQ+ people |url=https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-06-28/the-worldwide-offensive-against-the-rights-of-lgbtq-people.html |access-date=2024-06-04 |newspaper=El País|location=Madrid |language=en-us}}
= Homophobic crime in Australia =
{{see also| Gay gang murders | label1 = Homophobic killings in Sydney }}
An Australian study, published in 2000 by the Australian Institute of Criminology, found that of the 454 male homicides between 1989 and 1999 in the state of New South Wales, at least 37 were verifiably fuelled by homophobia.{{Cite journal |last1=Mouzos |first1=Jenny |last2=Thompson |first2=Sue |date=June 1, 2000 |title=Gay-Hate Related Homicides: An Overview of Major Findings in NSW |url=https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi155 |journal=Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice |publisher=Australian Institute of Criminology|issue=155 |isbn=064224166X |issn=0817-8542}}
History
{{further|List of people executed for homosexuality in Europe}}
= Australia =
Australian states and territories first passed laws against homosexuality during the colonial era, and nineteenth-century colonial parliaments retained provisions which made homosexual activity a capital offence until 1861.{{cite web |last=Carbery |first=Graham |title=Towards Homosexual Equality in Australian Criminal Law: A Brief History |year=2010 |edition=2nd |url=http://www.alga.org.au/files/towardsequality2ed.pdf |publisher=Australian Queer Archives|location=Melbourne}} Most jurisdictions removed capital punishment as a sentence for homosexual activity, although in Victoria it remained as such when committed while also inflicting bodily harm or to a person younger than the age of fourteen until 1949. The last person arrested for homosexual sex in Australia was a man in 1984 in Tasmania.{{Cite web|url=http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/undocs/html/vws488.htm|title=Toonen v. Australia, Communication No. 488/1992, U.N. Doc CCPR/C/50/D/488/1992 (1994).|website=Human Rights Library|publisher=University of Minnesota|location=Minneapolis, USA|access-date=8 October 2019}} The last part of Australia to legalise consensual homosexual sex between adults was Tasmania in 1997. In 2017, same-sex marriage was legalised by the Australian government.{{cite news |last1=Karp |first1=Paul |title=Same-sex marriage bill passes in Australian Senate |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/nov/29/same-sex-marriage-bill-passes-in-australian-senate |access-date=19 May 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=29 November 2017 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Yaxley |first1=Louise |title=Same-sex marriage signed into law by Governor-General |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-08/same-sex-marriage-legal-after-gg-approval/9239334 |access-date=19 May 2022 |work=ABC News |date=7 December 2017 |language=en-AU}}
Of the seven men in Australian history known to have been executed for sodomy, six cases involved the sexual abuse of minors; only one of the seven cases was for consensual acts between adults.{{Cite web |last=Croome |first=Rodney |date=2006 |title=Companion to Tasmanian History: Homosexuality |publisher=University of Tasmania |url=https://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/H/Homosexuality.htm |access-date=1 August 2019}} In that sole case, Alexander Browne was hanged at Sydney on 22 December 1828 for sodomy with his shipmate William Lyster on the whaler Royal Sovereign; Lyster was also convicted and sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted before execution.{{Cite web|title='Unfit for Publication' press cuttings list|url=http://www.alga.org.au/files/ufpnewssources.pdf|date=2006|publisher=Australian Queer Archives|location=Melbourne}} Joseph Fogg was hanged at Hobart on 24 February 1830 for an "unnamed crime", also described in one source as an "abominable crime".{{cite news|title=Executions|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8644929|access-date=9 March 2017|work=Colonial Times|location=Hobart, Tasmania, Australia|date=26 February 1830|page=3|quote=This morning, the awful sentence of the law was carried into execution upon four other persons, viz.-John Jones and Samuel Killen, for sheep-stealing; Joseph Fogg, for a nameless offence, and Thomas Goodwin, for cutting and maiming with intent the kill.}}{{cite web |title=Convict Records: Joseph Fogg |url=https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/fogg/joseph/83346 |website=ConvictRecords.com.au |access-date=31 July 2022|publisher=Coding Labs|location=Queensland, Australia}} The exact nature of his crime is unclear; while likely a same-sex sexual offence given the labels applied ('unnamed', 'abominable'), it is uncertain whether it was for an adult consensual act, same-sex rape, or abuse of a minor.{{cite book |last1=Coad |first1=David |title=Gender Trouble Down Under: Australian Masculinities|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Gender_Trouble_Down_Under/KUzaAAAAMAAJ?hl=en |date=2002 |publisher=Polytechnic University of Hauts-de-France |location=Valenciennes, France |isbn=9782905725301 |page=34}}
= Nazi Germany =
{{main|Persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany#Death penalty}}
During the period of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, homosexual men were persecuted with thousands being imprisoned in concentration camps (and eventually extermination camps) by the Nazi regime. Roughly 5,000–15,000 were sent to the concentration camps, with the death rate being estimated to be as high as 60%. Homosexuals in the camps suffered an unusual degree of cruelty by their captors, including being used as target practice on shooting ranges.{{cite book|title=The Racial State: Germany, 1933–1945|last=Burleigh|first=Michael|date=1991|publisher=Cambridge University Press|others=Wippermann, Wolfgang, Mazal Holocaust Collection |isbn=0521391148 |location=Cambridge |oclc=22597244|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/racialstate00mich}}{{cite book|last=Giles|first=Geoffrey J|title=Social Outsiders in Nazi Germany|date=2001|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, New Jersey|page=240|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Social_Outsiders_in_Nazi_Germany/2f1ZDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0}}{{cite book|title=The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexuals|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Pink_Triangle/oQeradc0pusC?hl=en|last=Plant|first=Richard|date=2013|publisher=Henry Holt and Company|isbn=9781429936934|location=New York|oclc=872608428}}
In a 1937 speech, Himmler argued that SS men who had served sentences for homosexuality should be transferred to a concentration camp and shot when trying to escape. This policy was never implemented, and some SS men were acquitted on homosexuality charges despite evidence against them.{{cite book |last1=Giles |first1=Geoffrey J. |title=The Routledge History of the Holocaust|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Routledge_History_of_the_Holocaust/vsrJLASVC3QC?hl=en&gbpv=0 |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-203-83744-3 |chapter=The Persecution of Gay Men and Lesbians During the Third Reich|pages=385–396}}{{rp|p=393}} A few death sentences against SS men for homosexual acts were pronounced between 1937 and 1940.{{cite book |last1=Lorenz |first1=Gottfried |title=Todesurteile und Hinrichtungen wegen homosexueller Handlungen während der NS-Zeit: Mann-männliche Internetprostitution. Und andere Texte zur Geschichte und zur Situation der Homosexuellen in Deutschland|trans-title=Death sentences and executions for homosexual acts during the Nazi era, male-male internet prostitution, and other texts on the history and situation of homosexuals in Germany |date=2018 |publisher=LIT Verlag |isbn=978-3-643-13992-4 |language=de|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Todesurteile_und_Hinrichtungen_wegen_hom/uHeGDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0}}{{rp|p=15}} In a speech on 18 August 1941, Hitler argued that homosexuality should be combatted throughout Nazi organizations and the military. In particular, homosexuality in the Hitler Youth must be punished by death in order to protect youth from being turned into homosexuals, however the Hitler Youth never implemented this policy.{{rp|pp=393–394}}
After learning of Hitler's remark, Himmler decided that the SS must be at least as tough on homosexuality and drafted a decree mandating the death penalty to any member of the SS and police found guilty of engaging in a homosexual act. Hitler signed the decree on 15 November 1941 on the condition that there be absolutely no publicity, worried that such a harsh decree might lend fuel to left-wing propaganda that homosexuality was especially prevalent in Germany. Since it could not be published in the SS newspaper, the decree was communicated to SS men one-on-one by their superiors. However, this was not done consistently and many arrested men asserted that they had no knowledge of the decree.{{rp|pp=393–394}}
Even after the decree, only a few death sentences were pronounced.{{rp|p=394}}{{cite book |last1=Longerich |first1=Peter |author1-link=Peter Longerich |title=Heinrich Himmler: A Life|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/GBQchepZ-7EC?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjZxtqa7YyLAxX5NzQIHWkPPUMQ7_IDegQIChAC |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-161705-8 |language=en|page=239}} Himmler often commuted the sentence especially if he thought that the accused was not a committed homosexual, but had suffered a one-time mistake (particularly while drunk). Many of those whose sentence was commuted were sent to serve in the Dirlewanger Brigade, a penal unit on the Eastern Front, where most were killed.{{rp|p=394}} After late 1943, because of military losses, it was the policy to recycle SS men convicted of homosexuality into the Wehrmacht.{{cite book|last=Schlagdenhauffen|first= Régis|title= Queer in Europe during the Second World War|publisher= Council of Europe|date= 2018| isbn =978-92-871-8464-1|url=https://rm.coe.int/079317-queer-in-europe-during-the-second-world-war-web-web/16808e4a53|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220217041539/https://rm.coe.int/079317-queer-in-europe-during-the-second-world-war-web-web/16808e4a53|archive-date= 17 February 2022|page=33}}
The 1933 law on habitual criminals also allowed for execution after the third conviction.{{rp|pp=12–13}} On 4 September 1941 a new law allowed the execution of dangerous sex offenders or habitual criminals when "the protection of the Volksgemeinschaft or the need for just atonement require it". This law enabled authorities to pronounce death sentences against homosexuals, and is known to have been employed in four cases in Austria.{{cite journal |last1=Scheck |first1=Raffael |title=The Danger of 'Moral Sabotage': Western Prisoners of War on Trial for Homosexual Relations in Nazi Germany |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27128536|journal=Journal of the History of Sexuality|publisher=University of Texas Press|location=Austin, Texas |date=2020 |volume=29 |issue=3 |page=422 |doi=10.7560/JHS29305|url-access=subscription }}{{rp|p=13}} In 1943, Wilhelm Keitel, head of the {{Lang|de|Oberkommando der Wehrmacht|italic=no}}, authorized the death penalty for soldiers convicted of homosexuality in "particularly serious cases".{{rp|p=28}}{{rp|pp=14,16}} Only a few executions of homosexual Wehrmacht soldiers are known, mostly in conjunction with other charges, especially desertion.{{cite book |last1=Storkmann |first1=Klaus |title=Tabu und Toleranz: Der Umgang mit Homosexualität in der Bundeswehr 1955 bis 2000|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Tabu_und_Toleranz/FoVaEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0|trans-title=Taboo and Tolerance: Homosexuality and the Bundeswehr 1955 to 2000 |date=2021 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-073290-0 |language=de}}{{rp|p=28}} Some homosexuals were executed at Nazi euthanasia centers, such as Bernburg or Meseritz-Obrawalde. It is difficult to estimate the number of homosexuals directly killed during the Nazi era.{{rp|p=11}}
= United Kingdom =
From 1533, under the Buggery Act 1533, capital felony for any person to "commit the detestable and abominable vice of buggery with mankind or beast", was enacted, repealed and re-enacted several times by the Crown, until it was reinstated permanently in 1563. Homosexual activity remained a capital offence until 1861.{{Cite journal|url=https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1061&context=englishfacpubs|journal=Journal of Homosexuality|publisher=Routledge|volume=1|issue=3|date=1976|title=Homosexuals and the Death Penalty in Colonial America|first=Louis|last=Crompton|access-date=30 May 2015|doi=10.1300/j082v01n03_03|pages=277–293|pmid=798008}}{{void|Fabrickator|comment|free access provided by English department}} The last execution took place on 27 November 1835 when James Pratt and John Smith were hanged outside Newgate Prison in London.
= United States =
{{See also|Sodomy laws in the United States}}
During the colonial era of American history, the various European nations which established colonies in the Americas brought their pre-existing laws against homosexuality (which included capital punishment) with them. The establishment of the United States after their victory in the Revolutionary War did not bring about any changes in the status of capital punishment as a sentence for being convicted of homosexual behavior. Beginning in the 19th century, the various state legislatures passed legislation which ended the status of capital punishment being used for those who were convicted of homosexual behavior. South Carolina was the last state, in 1873, to repeal the death penalty for homosexual behaviour from its statute books. The number of times the penalty was carried out is unknown. Records show there were at least two executions, and a number of more convictions with vague labels, such as "crimes against nature".
= Sudan =
In July 2020, the sodomy law that previously punished gay men with up to 100 lashes for the first offence, five years in jail for the second and the death penalty the third time around was abolished, with new legislation reducing the penalty to prison terms ranging from five years to life. Sudanese LGBTQ activists hailed the reform as a 'great first step', but said it was not enough yet, and the end goal should be the decriminalisation of same-sex sexual activity altogether.{{Cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sudan-lgbt-rights-trfn/great-first-step-as-sudan-lifts-death-penalty-and-flogging-for-gay-sex-idUSKCN24H30J |title='Great first step' as Sudan lifts death penalty and flogging for gay sex |author1=Ban Barkawi|author2=Rachel Savage |publisher=Reuters |date=16 July 2020 |access-date=17 July 2020}}
Notes
{{notelist|refs=
{{efn|name="trust since 2015"|1=The Human Dignity Trust wrote in 2020 that all annual human rights reports from the U.S. Department of State on UAE after 2015 stated no prosecutions for same-sex sexual acts had been reported.}}
}}
References
{{reflist|refs=
{{cite news |title=Palestine |url=https://www.humandignitytrust.org/country-profile/palestine/ |access-date=26 June 2024 |publisher=Human Dignity Trust|location=London |date=14 November 2023 |language=en|quote=Same-sex sexual activity is prohibited in Gaza under the British Mandate Criminal Code Ordinance 1936. The relevant provision carries a maximum penalty of ten years imprisonment. Only men are criminalised under this law. ... The law was inherited from the British. It continues to be in operation in Gaza today, though it is not in force elsewhere in Palestine. ... There is little evidence of the law being enforced, and it appears to be largely obsolete in practice.}}
{{cite news |title=Video of people thrown from roof shows punishment by IS, not Hamas |url=https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/video-people-thrown-roof-shows-punishment-by-is-not-hamas-2023-12-14/ |publisher=Reuters |date=15 December 2023}}
{{cite news |title=Fearing Israeli retaliation, Lions' Den chief turns himself in to PA |url=https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/middle-east/palestinian-territories/1682662151-fearing-israeli-retaliation-lions-den-chief-turns-himself-in-to-pa |access-date=3 June 2024 |work=I24news|location=Tel Aviv |date=28 April 2023 |language=en}}
{{cite news | title= A young man was killed as a result of being shot in Nablus | url= https://qudsnet.com/post/550656/%D9%85%D9%82%D8%AA%D9%84-%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D8%AC%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%AA%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%B6%D9%87-%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%82-%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%B3 | access-date= 5 July 2024 | work= Quds News Network|location=Palestine | date= 9 April 2023 | language=ar}}
{{cite news| title=Lions' Den execute man accused of informing for Israel |url=https://www.newarab.com/news/lions-den-execute-man-accused-informing-israel |access-date=3 June 2024 |work=The New Arab |location=London |date=10 April 2023 |language=en}}
{{cite news| last1=Amun |first1=Fadi |title=Militant group Lion's Den announces execution of Palestinian for collaborating with Israel |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-04-09/ty-article/.premium/lions-den-announces-execution-of-palestinian-for-collaborating-with-israel/00000187-665c-dde0-afb7-7e5fd87e0000 |access-date=3 June 2024 |newspaper=Haaretz|location=Tel Aviv |date=9 April 2023 |language=en}}
}}
{{Capital punishment}}
{{Criminalization of homosexuality}}
{{Discrimination}}
{{World topic| prefix= Extrajudicial killings in | title= Extrajudicial killings in the world |noredlinks=yes}}
Category:Criminalization of homosexuality