They reportedly called his mother to tell her where to find him. 'There's no guarantee that this won't happen again until our society becomes educated and informed,' Arsham Parsi, a Toronto-based, Iranian gay-rights activist and head of the International Railroad for Queer Refugees, told RFE/RL.įazeli Monfared was reportedly killed on May 4 by his half-brother and cousins who, according to some reports, beheaded him and dumped his body under a tree near the provincial capital of Ahvaz.
His name was Alireza Fazeli Monfared and he was only 20 years old.įazeli Monfared was homosexual and due to the difficulties he faced because of his sexual orientation, was about to flee his native Iran for Turkey.īut he was reportedly killed by his family members before he could leave the southwestern province of Khuzestan after they accused him of dishonoring the family.įazeli Monfared's killing has put the plight of Iran's LGBT community in the spotlight amid concerns that this will not be the last suspected case of so-called honor killings of homosexuals in the Islamic republic.
