The UN said on Friday it was "
very concerned
" after the death sentence handed down in Iran against two gay rights activists, accused of promoting homosexuality.
The two women, Zahra Sedighi Hamedani, 31, and Elham Chubdar, 24, were sentenced to death by the court in the city of Urmia in the northwest of the country.
"
We are deeply concerned about the death sentences handed down to two LGBT activists in Iran
," Liz Throssell, spokeswoman for the UN rights office, told AFP by email.
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She lamented that the two women had been convicted "
on the basis of the vague charge of 'corruption on earth', at the end of a trial which would not have benefited from the guarantees of due process and fair trial
”.
This accusation is frequently made in Iran against people accused of breaking religious laws.
Homosexuality is prohibited in Iran, its penal code punishing sexual relations between men and between women.
But the sentences handed down to Sedighi Hamedani and Elham Chubdar are unusually harsh.
Amnesty International and other NGOs have already come out against these convictions, like France.
The Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights said the two activists' lives "
can be saved by immediate and strong reactions from the international community and civil society
".
