10 countries where homosexuality may be punishable by death

[rangerrebew]

Journal Express, Knoxville, IA
February 24, 2014
10 countries where homosexuality may be punishable by death

By Terri Rupar
The Washington Post

— Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Monday signed a law that imposes a 14-year prison sentence for homosexual acts - and life sentences for those found guilty of "aggravated homosexuality." A measure imposing the death penalty was removed from an earlier version of the bill.

 Homosexuality was already illegal in Uganda, as it is in 37 other African countries. Though the death penalty was removed from Uganda's law, it's a potential punishment elsewhere, including parts of Nigeria, Mauritania and Sudan.

 (Last month, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan signed a measure similar to Uganda's into law; a few weeks later, a mob pulled 14 young men from their beds and assaulted them, screaming about cleansing their neighborhood of gay people.)

 Here are the 10 countries where homosexuality may be punishable by death:

 Yemen: According to 1994 penal code, married men can be sentenced to death by stoning for homosexual intercourse. Unmarried men face whipping or one year in prison. Women face up to seven years in prison.

 Iran: In accordance with sharia law, homosexual intercourse between men can be punished by death, and men can be flogged for lesser acts such as kissing. Women may be flogged.

 Iraq: The penal code does not expressly prohibit homosexual acts, but people have been killed by militias and sentenced to death by judges citing sharia law.

 Mauritania: Muslim men engaging in homosexual sex can be stoned to death, according to a 1984 law. Women face prison.

 Nigeria: Federal law classifies homosexual behavior as a felony punishable by imprisonment, but several states have adopted sharia law and imposed a death penalty for men. A law signed in early January makes it illegal for gay people countrywide to hold a meeting or form clubs.

 Qatar: Sharia law in Qatar applies only to Muslims, who can be put to death for extramarital sex, regardless of sexual orientation.

 Saudi Arabia: Under the country's interpretation of sharia law, a married man engaging in sodomy or any non-Muslim who commits sodomy with a Muslim can be stoned to death. All sex outside of marriage is illegal.

 Somalia: The penal code stipulates prison, but in some southern regions, Islamic courts have imposed Sharia law and the death penalty.

 Sudan: Three-time offenders under the sodomy law can be put to death; first and second convictions result in flogging and imprisonment. Southern parts of the country have adopted more lenient laws.

 United Arab Emirates: Lawyers in the country and other experts disagree on whether federal law proscribes 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. All sexual acts outside of marriage are banned.

  http://www.journalexpress.net/community-news-network/x1783687714/10-countries-where-homosexuality-may-be-punishable-by-death/print

[Oceander]

Well, they are certainly in line with the Old Testament on this point:

(for men):  Sex with a man in the same manner as sex with women.  Generally interpreted as male homosexuality.  The text omits any mention of and punishment for female homosexuality. (Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13).

If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

Leviticus 20:13

[mountaineer]

Homosexual behavior is condemned in the New Testament, too.

[Oceander]

Homosexual behavior is condemned in the New Testament, too.

but does it mandate death for homosexuals?

[mountaineer]

but does it mandate death for homosexuals?

No, it's generally in the context that they, like any other unrepentant sinner, will not have eternal life, to-wit:

1 Corinthians 6:9-11, New International Version (NIV)

9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men[a] 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Footnotes:
a.1 Corinthians 6:9 The words men who have sex with men translate two Greek words that refer to the passive and active participants in homosexual acts.

[Oceander]

No, it's generally in the context that they, like any other unrepentant sinner, will not have eternal life, to-wit:

That's a little less severe than death-by-prescription.  After all, we're all sinners and so, regardless of the sin, are just as subject to that punishment as is any homosexual if we are unrepentant.

[mountaineer]

That's a little less severe than death-by-prescription.  After all, we're all sinners and so, regardless of the sin, are just as subject to that punishment as is any homosexual if we are unrepentant.

I think that's what I said, my only point being to add to your Leviticus reference that homosexual behavior is considered a sin in the New Testament as well as in the Old.

[Oceander]

I think that's what I said, my only point being to add to your Leviticus reference that homosexual behavior is considered a sin in the New Testament as well as in the Old.

fair enough.

[jmyrlefuller]

Well, they are certainly in line with the Old Testament on this point:

(for men):  Sex with a man in the same manner as sex with women.  Generally interpreted as male homosexuality.  The text omits any mention of and punishment for female homosexuality. (Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13).

Leviticus 20:13

Indeed. Much of Leviticus deals with church procedure regarding cleanliness and the such, including the list of kosher foods, rules regarding menstruation in the temple, incest, and such. I suspect it was the serious risk of disease transmission that "laying with a man in the same manner as a woman" brings that warranted its inclusion in the Torah. It is not some random law or "article of purity" (such as the atheists' favorite ban on poly-cotton blends). It's also why lesbianism is not condemned (although Paul certainly was not fond of it, as he seems to imply in Romans).