Gay Syrians tell of fear of ISIS persecutn | CNN

Contents:

• INSI LOOK AT ISIS' BTAL PERSECUTN OF GAYS
• UNR ISIS: WHERE BEG GAY IS PUNISHED BY DEATH
• TWO GAY MEN WHO FLED ISIS JT MA U.N. HISTORY
• THE SECRET, HYPOCRIL GAY WORLD OF ISIS
• AMID BRAZEN, ADLY ATTACKS, GAY SYRIANS TELL OF FEAR OF ISIS PERSECUTN
• ISIS LGBT PERSECUTN: AT UN SECURY COUNCIL MEETG, GAY ISLAMIC STATE VICTIMS IN SYRIA AND IRAQ DISCSED

INSI LOOK AT ISIS' BTAL PERSECUTN OF GAYS

REYHANLI, Turkey -- Before a crowd of men on a street the Syrian cy of Palmyra, the masked Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) judge read out the sentence agast the two men nvicted of homosexualy: They would be thrown to their aths om the roof of the nearby Wael asked one of the men if he was satisfied wh the sentence. Gay men are hnted nstantly by the possibily that someone, perhaps even a relative, will betray them to the ants - whether to curry favor wh ISIS or simply out of hatred for their sexual orientatn. "Subhi Nahas, a 28-year-old gay Syrian who now liv San Francis, said he fled bee he feared his own father might turn him to al Qaeda's affiliate, the Nra Front, which also has targeted his father learned he was gay, Nahas said he lled him a shame to the fay and beat him.

Around the same time, late 2013, Nra fighters lnched a crackdown on spected gays Nahas' hometown of Maaret al-Numan, tag 25 men and announcg through mosque loudspeakers that they would cleanse the town of homosexuals. Fearful that he wouldn't be safe even Turkey, he legally rettled to the Uned Stat Augt, Nahas and a gay Iraqi man spoke about the sufferg of homosexuals their untri at the first-ever U.

Secury Council ssn spotlightg vlence and discrimatn agast lbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenr stigma surroundg homosexualy mak difficult to document ISIS killgs and intify victims, rights groups say.

UNR ISIS: WHERE BEG GAY IS PUNISHED BY DEATH

Gays unr ISIS le are terrified to speak, and most who flee abroad go to ' own announcements are the ma source of rmatn, but the group often do not name the victims, perhaps ference to their fai, who uld lash out anger at havg their nam publicly lked to homosexuals.

The acunts differ on the method of killg, and some acunts give lser penalti some bas s punishment on one acunt which Muhammad reportedly says gays "should be thrown om tremendo height then stoned. Durg their le Afghanistan the 1990s, the Taliban had their own method: The victim would be put a p and a stone wall would be toppled on top of morate Mlim clerics ignore the ath penalty provisns, even as they fiercely nounce homosexualy.

Across the Arab world, homosexuals have been arrted and sentenced to prison on charg lked to "bchery" - and sometim lashed Iran and Sdi, the man who watched the killgs Palmyra, said he remas shaken. A 2016 report by the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn c more than 70 untri which homosexualy is outlawed, and many of them are cltered around the area where ISIS is strongt. The group's public executns of gay men are part of a liberate moral policg mpaign, one aimed at showg supporters and enemi alike that means to enforce s narrow, atavistic view of Islamic law wherever n.

TWO GAY MEN WHO FLED ISIS JT MA U.N. HISTORY

The tragic events at the Pulse nightclub Orlando shed light on a lser-known facet of the Islamic State (IS): the group's vilently hostile views toward homosexualy, particular s targetg of gay men. To be sure, gay men were beg targeted by the Iraqi and Syrian regim prr to the announcement of the so-lled IS "Caliphate, " and the regn's legal and relig climate is often hospable to that muny.

THE SECRET, HYPOCRIL GAY WORLD OF ISIS

Conmnatn of homosexualy is ubiquo IS propaganda, where is most often characterized as "the actns of the people of Lot" -- referrg to vers the Quran and saygs attributed to the Prophet Muhammad (hadh) that nmn the ancient figure Lot and his people for acts of sodomy.

Given the labor vtigatn required to prove such "offens" and the often-differg opns of Mlim jurists on the matter, is unclear how often this prohibn has been enforced throughout history and how much var Islamic societi have tacly accepted homosexuals.

Today, gays rema subject to legal persecutn most parts of the Middle East, wh the exceptn of Israel, Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon (though the regn is hardly unique this regard).

AMID BRAZEN, ADLY ATTACKS, GAY SYRIANS TELL OF FEAR OF ISIS PERSECUTN

The document go on to list the acts that should be punished: blasphemy (agast God, the Prophet, or relign), adultery, homosexualy, theft, alhol nsumptn, lumny, "spyg on behalf of the terts of unbelievers, " apostasy, and highway robbery. Siarly, an October 2015 Wilayat Halab picture say showg the executn of gay men, tled "God's Law Regardg Whoever Commted the 'Act of the People of Lot, '" this argument about the need to apply Islamic law as a means of jtifyg the stong of gay men. This clus articl the group's English and French-language magaz (Dabiq and Dar al-Islam) and vios that pict punishg homosexuals as a means of both exactg retributn agast unbelievers and "matag virtue and terrg immoraly.

Yet IS has put s own vlent sp on this Salafi methodology by g the harsht precents wh certa hadh to jtify s treatment of gay men, ignorg the var legal mutiae vised around the topic over the centuri. Based on a database llected by the thors, sce the Islamic State announced self as a liphate June 2014, s Diwan al-Hisba (Moral Policg Admistratn) and onle media apparat have publicly announced twenty-seven executns of allegedly gay men.

The ma method ed to kill the men has been to throw them off the roofs of high-rise buildgs, based on a hadh which the Prophet's succsor, Abu Bakr, prcrib throwg a man off a cliff for engagg homosexual acts. " Acrdg to leaked fil om Samir Abd Muhammad al-Khlifawi (aka Haji Bakr) -- head of the group's ary uncil and archect of s plans to nquer and admister terrory until his ath January 2014 -- IS told s spi to intify homosexuals when filtratg new terrori so that they uld later be blackmailed.

ISIS LGBT PERSECUTN: AT UN SECURY COUNCIL MEETG, GAY ISLAMIC STATE VICTIMS IN SYRIA AND IRAQ DISCSED

Once a gay man is ught and sentenced by an Islamic State sharia urt, the group rri out the same tragic b of theatril propaganda rerv for other pal offens: the person is taken to a town square or siar area where a large crowd is prent. Ernment should reerate the importance of LGBT rights s public and private diplomacy wh Middle Eastern untri, pecially given the regn's worrisome pattern of crimalizg homosexualy.

While there is still no evince that IS directly stcted Mateen to attack a well-known gay nightclub Orlando, the cint uld dite a new trend of jihadi vigilantism that blends the type of terrorist acts typilly seen the Wt (wanton killg spre or explosns civilian centers) wh a refn of the spe and applitn of Islamic law -- this se, to bypass the more nuanced tradnal legal fns, procs, and stutns and enurage targeted vlence agast LGBT muni and culture by dividual lay Mlims. To those unversed Islamic history and texts, such vlence may be rrectly taken as reprentg the tradnal Islamic approach to homosexualy, so Washgton and Mlim muni should be quick to nmn all such acts.