EDGE Philadelphia

Four men in Iran have been sentenced to death because they committed sodomy.

The recent reported executions of three gay men in Iran took place against a backdrop of protest: Gay Iranians are emerging from the closet, at least on Facebook.

Iran has executed three men for gay sex, according to a Sept. 7 report in Irish newspaper the Independent.

The charges may (or may not) trumped up, but the punishment is all to real: Two men have been sentenced to death for allegedly ’raping’ a man and other gay-related crimes.

Iranians convicted for same-sex activities are on death row and awaiting hanging, including several who were minors when arrested, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.

Somewhere on the way from Ethiopia to Djibouti, as I continued an overland trip around the world that has taken me 30,000 miles from New York City through two dozen countries, I developed a theory about travel.

California farmers may be the big beneficiaries of a U.S. ban on Iranian pistachios that began Wednesday. President Barack Obama signed the ban on July 1 in response to Iran’s nuclear policies.

Iran’s government is digging in its heels, even as its judiciary wavers and international pressure mounts over stoning a young man who may have participated in gay sex acts.

A teenager in Iran faces death by hanging for a "gay assault" that his accuser now says the youth did not, in fact, commit. Moreover, the provincial court that has pronounced the death sentence has refused to follow orders by the Iranian Supreme Court to re-open the case.

The European Union on Monday formally adopted a package of new sanctions against Iran, targeting the country’s foreign trade, banking and energy sectors.