While the world celebrates Pride Month, you can be executed for being a sexual minority in these countries

In February 2018, a new Penal Code explicitly criminalised same-sex sexual conduct. Scholars and lawmakers in the country believe that “execution” is the “appropriate” punishment for homosexual acts.

As part of its Sharia Penal Code, which was implemented in stages since 2014, death by stoning is prescribed as the punishment for initiating same-sex relations.

Iran has declared homosexuality a capital offence as part of its penal code which was enacted in 1991. Reports suggest that many people were hanged for homosexual behaviour in 2005-2006 and in 2016.

In Mauritania, Muslim men who engage in homosexual sex can be hanged by law. However, no executions have taken place in the country so far.

Many territories in and around Nigeria follow Sharia law, whereby homosexuality or “deviant sexuality” is punishable by death.

The country criminalises homosexual acts with a death penalty.

In Qatar, Muslim men face execution for extra-marital affairs. Most gay men in the country live a life of fear and secret, and if found, they may be executed.

The country does not have a codified criminal law. Sodomy is prohibited in the ultra-conservative country. If a married man commits the “crime” of sodomy, or if a non-Muslim man has sex with a Muslim man, they are all sentenced to death. The country also has a history of tying up queer people and throwing them from the roofs of tall buildings.

Islamic law prohibits same-sex relationships, punishable by law in many regions.

There is not much consensus on whether UAE law enforces death penalty for consensual gay sex. However, Article 354 of the Federal Penal Code states, ”[people] shall be sentenced to death penalty, whoever used coercion in having sexual intercourse with a female or sodomy with a male."