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News: Islamic State group targets gays with brutal public killings
Member Since: 1/7/2010
Posts: 4,967
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Islamic State group targets gays with brutal public killings
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Before a crowd of men on a street in the Syrian city of Palmyra, the masked Islamic State group judge read out the sentence against the two men convicted of homosexuality: They would be thrown to their deaths from the roof of the nearby Wael Hotel.
He asked one of the men if he was satisfied with the sentence. Death, the judge told him, would help cleanse him of his sin.
"I'd prefer it if you shoot me in the head," 32-year-old Hawas Mallah replied helplessly. The second man, 21-year-old Mohammed Salameh, pleaded for a chance to repent, promising never to have sex with a man again, according to a witness among the onlookers that sunny July morning who gave The Associated Press a rare first-hand account.
"Take them and throw them off," the judge ordered. Other masked extremists tied the men's hands behind their backs and blindfolded them. They led them to the roof of the four-story hotel, according to the witness, who spoke in the Turkish city of Reyhanli on condition he be identified only by his first name, Omar, for fear of reprisals.
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Notorious for their gruesome methods of killing, the Islamic State group reserves one of its most brutal for suspected homosexuals. Videos it has released show masked militants dangling men over the precipices of buildings by their legs to drop them head-first or tossing them over the edge. At least 36 men in Syria and Iraq have been killed by IS militants on charges of sodomy, according to the New York-based OutRight Action International, though its Middle East and North Africa coordinator, Hossein Alizadeh, said it was not possible to confirm the sexual orientation of the victims.
The fear of a horrific death among gay men under Islamic State rule is further compounded by their isolation in a deeply conservative society that largely shuns them.
Many Muslims consider homosexuality to be sinful. Gay men are haunted constantly by the possibility that someone, perhaps even a relative, will betray them to the militants — whether to curry favor with IS or simply out of hatred for their sexual orientation. Islamic State group fighters sometimes torture suspected homosexuals to reveal their friends' names and search their laptops and mobile phones. Even among IS opponents, gays find little sympathy. Some in the public who might be shocked by other IS atrocities say killings of gays is justified. Syrian rebel factions have killed or abused gays as well.
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A 26-year-old Syrian gay man told the AP that even two years after fleeing to Turkey, he wakes up shaken by nightmares that he is about to be hurled from a building. The man spoke on condition that he be identified as Daniel Halaby, the name he now uses in his activism tracking IS atrocities, and that the city in Turkey where he lives not be named for his own safety.
Halaby says a childhood friend who became radicalized and joined IS betrayed him to the militants in 2013, forcing him to flee his home city of Aleppo.
"He knew everything about me, such as being secular and gay. ... I am sure he is the one who gave my name to Daesh," he said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.
In September 2013, IS fighters besieged the Aleppo neighborhood where Halaby lived with his family, trying to wrest it from the rebel Free Syrian Army. The two sides negotiated over an end to the siege and, during the talks, IS gave the rebels a list of people they demanded be handed over to them. Halaby said he learned his name was on that list.
He quickly escaped to Turkey.
There, his bedroom is decorated with a flag of the Syrian opposition and a rainbow banner that covers an entire wall. His parents, who remain in Aleppo, refuse to talk to him because of his sexual orientation. When he watches videos of gays being killed, he said, "What breaks my heart most is that I feel helpless."
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Life for gays in Aleppo, Syria's biggest city, was always hidden, Halaby said. When the secular-led peaceful protests erupted against President Bashar Assad in 2011, he said he quickly joined, sure they would lead to a democratic government "that will respect everyone no matter their religion, ethnicity, sect or sexuality."
"We were very naive," he said. "What happened was exactly the opposite."
Subhi Nahas, a 28-year-old gay Syrian who now lives in San Francisco, said he fled because he feared his own father might turn him in to al-Qaida's affiliate, the Nusra Front, which also has targeted homosexuals.
When his father learned he was gay, Nahas said he called him a shame to the family and beat him. Around the same time, in late 2013, Nusra fighters launched a crackdown on suspected gays in Nahas' hometown of Maaret al-Numan, detaining 25 men and announcing through mosque loudspeakers that they would cleanse the town of homosexuals.
"With the problems between me and my father, I did not rule out that he might (hand me over)," he told the AP.
So he fled, first to Lebanon, then Turkey. But in Turkey, he said, he began getting death threats from a former school friend who joined the Islamic State group. Fearful that he wouldn't be safe even in Turkey, he legally resettled to the United States in June.
In August, Nahas and a gay Iraqi man spoke about the suffering of homosexuals in their countries at the first-ever U.N. Security Council session spotlighting violence and discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people.
The stigma surrounding homosexuality makes it difficult to document IS killings and identify victims, rights groups say. Families and friends refuse to talk about victims. Gays under IS rule are terrified to speak, and most who flee abroad go into hiding.
The Islamic State group's announcements are the main source of information, but the group often does not name the victims, perhaps in deference to their families, who could lash out in anger at having their names publicly linked to homosexuals.
"Such a barbaric show of murder leaves LGBT individuals in constant state of fear and would deprive them of a normal life that any human being is entitled to," Alizadeh said.
Widespread public hostility leaves the community even more vulnerable.
"They are violating God's laws and doing something that is forbidden in Islam, so this is a legitimate punishment," said Hajji Mohammed, a resident of the IS-held northern Iraqi city of Mosul. There the group has thrown men suspected of being gay off the Insurance Building, a landmark about 10 stories high.
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More: http://news.yahoo.com/islamic-state-...055601285.html
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 7,779
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Isn't killing a SIN also? Poor men, this article is sad.
ISN'T KILLING AND KIDNAPPING violating GOD'S LAWS?!
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Member Since: 3/2/2014
Posts: 5,993
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Quote:
Originally posted by hardbrit
Isn't killing a SIN also? Poor men, this article is sad.
ISN'T KILLING AND KIDNAPPING violating GOD'S LAWS?!
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do you seriously think they follow their gods laws
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 3,795
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This makes me so angry.
I was talking to a gay syrian refugee on Grindr a few weeks ago. I feel sorry for him. I hope he gets to stay in Germany.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 9,929
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Syrian gays, run to Canada! 
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 15,921
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this is so awful, I have no words for this disgusting act that the ISIS terrorists are doing! Those are brutal deaths for people who did nothing wrong.
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Member Since: 8/4/2012
Posts: 2,758
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and yet so called moderate muslims from nearby countries will remain silent on issues like these
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Member Since: 6/20/2012
Posts: 8,593
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Quote:
Originally posted by hardbrit
Isn't killing a SIN also? Poor men, this article is sad.
ISN'T KILLING AND KIDNAPPING violating GOD'S LAWS?!
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You're so innocent I love you 
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Member Since: 8/18/2013
Posts: 10,487
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Quote:
Originally posted by Blue Jeans
Syrian gays, run to Canada! |
The Canadian law specifically for gays hasn't been approved yet ,it was just a proposal. I'm sure though they'd still get refugee status as normal , this is awful to read.
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Originally posted by hardbrit
Isn't killing a SIN also? Poor men, this article is sad.
ISN'T KILLING AND KIDNAPPING violating GOD'S LAWS?!
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It literally say's in the Quran that you can throw people off a cliff for certain crimes/sins , the contradiction of this is a kii and people still follow it 
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Member Since: 1/1/2012
Posts: 19,672
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its so weird how religion made the world so backwards
back in ancient greece they saw nothing wrong with being gay and a lot of people were having sex with both the same and the opposite sex
i believe in God but in my own way and feel like he loves everyone so we can live whatever way we want as long as we aren't evil
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Member Since: 9/3/2011
Posts: 14,867
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So pressed @ gays. 
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Member Since: 8/7/2015
Posts: 1,475
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I am so PRIVLEDGED and HONORED to be born and raised in one of the best countries in the world for equality, rights, laws, expression, etc
I honestly wish every single person that lives in these countries where LGBTQ is illegal/punishable would immigrate/refuge as well. Specifically to a country with gay rights, hate crime laws, gay marriage, adoption, anti workplace descrinination (etc) are intact
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Member Since: 6/20/2012
Posts: 8,593
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Quote:
Originally posted by Ryan Rivers
I am so PRIVLEDGED and HONORED to be born and raised in one of the best countries in the world for equality, rights, laws, expression, etc
I honestly wish every single person that lives in these countries where LGBTQ is illegal/punishable would immigrate/refuge as well. Specifically to a country with gay rights, hate crimes, gay marriage, adoption, anti workplace descrinination (etc) are intact
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Omg wut
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 5,905
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^ Obviously he meant "hate crime laws" 
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Originally posted by Bad Kid.
its so weird how religion made the world so backwards
back in ancient greece they saw nothing wrong with being gay and a lot of people were having sex with both the same and the opposite sex
i believe in God but in my own way and feel like he loves everyone so we can live whatever way we want as long as we aren't evil
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This isn't entirely accurate, but they were certainly off on a better foot than the monotheistic religions that followed.
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Member Since: 8/18/2013
Posts: 8,633
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Quote:
Originally posted by hardbrit
Isn't killing a SIN also? Poor men, this article is sad.
ISN'T KILLING AND KIDNAPPING violating GOD'S LAWS?!
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MTE. The Middle East can be so extreme. Why can't they be like Western Muslims, they're so normal
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Member Since: 3/4/2014
Posts: 5,923
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Horrible stone-age sized mess. I get so angry @ articles like these
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Member Since: 9/1/2013
Posts: 6,762
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"Oh no they should stop being gay because it's definitely a choice"
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Member Since: 3/15/2013
Posts: 10,989
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Lord... Why must this happen? 
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 1,060
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Their name is Daesh not Islamic State.
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Member Since: 9/1/2013
Posts: 6,762
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Quote:
Originally posted by careerfatality
do you seriously think they follow their gods laws
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They're extremist, but they're still Muslims. Meanwhile other countries sugar coat the things they do to avoid attention.
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