#Gay Iranian man dead in alleged ‘honor killing,’ rights group says

A 20-year-old Iranian man was beheaded in an alleged honor killing after his family discovered he was gay, according to LGBTQ rights activists.

Ali Fazeli Monfared, who lived in Ahvaz, was reportedly killed after his relatives found out he had been exempted from serving in the military due to his sexual orientation, according to 6Rang, the Iranian Lesbian and Transgender Network.

Fazeli Monfared had applied for the status so that he could leave the country and go to Turkey to live with his close friend, Aghil Bayat, NBC News reported.

But when he received his exemption card in the mail, one of his family members found it, according to 6Rang.

Several male relatives then allegedly took Fazeli Monfared to a rural village near Ahvaz and executed him on May 4, a 6Rang executive told NBC News.

“We think that because of his gender expression and his behaviors, they knew that he is homosexual, but it was proof that shows he wants to leave the country, and he is a gay man,” executive director Shadi Amin told the news outlet.

“We are trying to use this story to challenge the Iranian government … to remove this paragraph [in the exemption law] and the reason on the exemption cards.”

The organization described the slaying as an “honor killing,” which is often carried out by a relative who believes a person went against conservative Islamic values on love or marriage.

Homosexuality is criminalized in Iran and same-sex sexual acts are punishable by death, NBC News reported.