Iran official in charge of promoting Islamic values suspended over alleged gay sex video

By Muri Assunção

The Iranian government is denying any prior knowledge of a gay sex scandal that has led to the suspension of an official in the ultra-conservative Islamic nation.

Reza Tsaghati, the head of Culture and Islamic Guidance in Gilan Province, was suspended last week after a video allegedly showed him having sex with another man.

Iran officials had initially stayed silent over the growing scandal, but on Saturday, the country’s culture minister, Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili, said he had no previous knowledge of Tsaghati’s alleged homosexual relations.

The video, which has not yet been verified, was shared on Radio Gilan’s Telegram channel, the BBC reported. And even though the identities of the men in the video have also not yet been positively verified, the scandal led to Tsaghati’s suspension from his post.

The video could pose a major problem for the conservative official beyond suspension. Consensual same-sex relations can be punished by death under the Islamic Penal Code, which is based on Sharia law.

Tsaghati was elected director-general of the Culture and Islamic Guidance of Gilan Province in 2021. He was also involved with the creation of a Chastity and Hijab Workshop and with the launch of a hijab hypermarket, according to Iran Wire, a progressive news site run by Iranian journalists.

Last week, the Cultural and Islamic Guidance Department of Gilan referred to the episode as a “suspected misstep of the director of Islamic guidance in Gilan.”

A “thorough investigation with the involvement of security and judicial authorities” was also ordered, Iran Wire reported.

Last month, when emphasizing “concerns about hijab and chastity in society,” Tsaghati said that the “promotion and support of a chaste environment should be led and managed by the people.”