Member of Iranian Parliament admits homosexuals in his country are executed. 'They spread diseases. It’s a severe crime that is against the laws of nature,' he says

Homosexuals should be executed, Iranian Parliament Member Mohsen Yahyavi said during a discussion between Iranian legislators and British officials in London in May, according to the protocol of the meeting published Tuesday in the British newspaper The Times.

Yahyavi, a member of the committee on energy affairs in Iran's Parliament, was in Britain for a peace summit.

"According to Islamic law, homosexuality is a grave crime," Yahyavi was quoted as saying. "It's a severe crime that goes against the laws of nature. It is human nature to procreate and homosexuals do not procreate."

The Iranian legislator added, "We do not have any opposition to this type of behavior as long as it is done behind closed doors, but those who (engage in) this behavior in public should be put to death."

The protocol shows that Yahyavi originally indicated that homosexuals should be "tortured," but he quickly corrected himself and said they should be "put to death."...

Homosexuals deserve to be executed or tortured and possibly both, an Iranian leader told British MPs during a private meeting at a peace conference, The Times has learnt.

Mohsen Yahyavi is the highest-ranked politician to admit that Iran believes in the death penalty for homosexuality after a spate of reports that gay youths were being hanged.

President Ahmadinejad, questioned by students in New York two months ago about the executions, dodged the issue by suggesting that there were no gays in his country.

Britain regularly challenges Iran about its gay hangings, stonings and executions of adulterers and perceived moral criminals, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) papers show.

The latest row involves a woman hanged this June in the town of Gorgan after becoming pregnant by her brother. He was absolved after expressing his remorse. Britain said that this demonstrated the unequal treatment of men and women in law and breached Iran’s pledge to restrict the death penalty to the most serious crimes...