Iran to Execute Teen for Sodomy

Though he has no legal representation and his alleged victim has admitted that nothing happened, an 18-year-old Iranian is set to be executed by the state for sodomy. The teenager, Ebrahim Hamidi, was being represented by renowned civil-rights lawyer Mohammad Mostafei—the man who recently brought international attention to the death-by-stoning case of Sakineh Mohammad Ashtiani—but Mostafei has since been forced into exile. In addition to the victim's retraction, no evidence links Hamidi to the crime, and his own confession is believed to have been elicited under torture. Hamidi’s sentence was secured by a judicial loophole known as “judge’s knowledge,” which allows for a conviction without conclusive evidence. The lawyer Mostafei is now exiled in Norway, forced out of the country after Iranian authorities arrested his wife and held her in prison. "It's shocking that although Hamidi's accuser admitted in a recorded testimony that he had lied, he is still facing execution," Mostafei said.