Capital punishment for homosexuality

Capital punishment as a criminal punishment for homosexuality has been implemented by a number of countries in their history. It currently remains a legal punishment in several countries and regions, most of which have sharia–based criminal laws except for Uganda. Gay people also face extrajudicial killings by state and non-state actors in some states and regions of the world. Locations where this is known to occur include: Iraq, Libya, Malaysia, Syria, and Chechnya. Imposition of the death penalty for homosexuality may be classified as judicial murder of gay people, which has been analyzed as a form of genocide. All nations excluding Uganda currently having capital punishment as a potential penalty for homosexual activity base those laws on interpretations of Islamic teachings. As of March 2023, the following jurisdictions prescribe the death penalty for homosexuality: Afghanistan. A Penal Code enacted in February 2018 explicitly criminalised same-sex sexual conduct under the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Sources cited by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association () indicated that there was a "broad consensus amongst scholars that execution was the appropriate punishment if homosexual acts could be proven". The sharia category of zina (illicit sexual intercourse), which according to some traditional Islamic legal schools may entail the hadd (sharia-prescribed) punishment of stoning, when strict evidential requirements are met. The Hanafi school, prevalent in Afghanistan, does not regard homosexual acts as a hadd crime, although Afghan judges may have potentially applied the death penalty for a number of reasons. No known death sentences for homosexuality occurred after the end of Taliban rule in 2001. However, following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, fears of reprisal including death for those suspected of homosexuality were renewed. A Taliban spokesman told Reuters in 2021: "LGBT... That's against our Sharia law".