Roger_Murderknife
MEMBER
If caught by jihadis, Syrian gays may be thrown from rooftops, or ransomed. And many live in fear of their own families. But Lebanon’s not the safe haven they hoped.
BEIRUT — Two young men we’ll call Karim and Tareq were walking through the streets of Raqqa, Syria, in September 2013 on their second date. They’d just been to a good restaurant, and Karim was excited as Tareq was about to introduce him to his friends. But the night quickly turned ugly when five strangers showed up, put a sack over Karim’s head, gagged him, and drove him to an unknown location. Nobody touched Tareq, and later, from his cell, Karim heard his captors and Tareq talk about ransoming him to his family.
Tareq had been posing as a gay man but working with a group linked to Jabhat al Nusra, according to Karim, in order to entrap homosexuals, a not uncommon practice in war-torn Syria. Al Nusra, the anti-Assad militia most closely associated with al Qaeda, had picked up one of Karim’s friends and got a list of numbers from his phone to track down other gay people.
While Karim was being held, his captors kept shouting, “Are you with the regime?” And he kept telling them, “No.” They asked if that was the last thing he had to say and threatened him with a sword. Karim demanded to know the real reason behind his imminent execution. Finally, there it was: “Because you are gay,” they answered.
After two weeks of negotiations with Karim’s family and a ransom payment, he was released and he has since come to Lebanon, thankful he’s still alive. Many have not been so lucky.
Gay Refugees From ISIS - The Daily Beast
BEIRUT — Two young men we’ll call Karim and Tareq were walking through the streets of Raqqa, Syria, in September 2013 on their second date. They’d just been to a good restaurant, and Karim was excited as Tareq was about to introduce him to his friends. But the night quickly turned ugly when five strangers showed up, put a sack over Karim’s head, gagged him, and drove him to an unknown location. Nobody touched Tareq, and later, from his cell, Karim heard his captors and Tareq talk about ransoming him to his family.
Tareq had been posing as a gay man but working with a group linked to Jabhat al Nusra, according to Karim, in order to entrap homosexuals, a not uncommon practice in war-torn Syria. Al Nusra, the anti-Assad militia most closely associated with al Qaeda, had picked up one of Karim’s friends and got a list of numbers from his phone to track down other gay people.
While Karim was being held, his captors kept shouting, “Are you with the regime?” And he kept telling them, “No.” They asked if that was the last thing he had to say and threatened him with a sword. Karim demanded to know the real reason behind his imminent execution. Finally, there it was: “Because you are gay,” they answered.
After two weeks of negotiations with Karim’s family and a ransom payment, he was released and he has since come to Lebanon, thankful he’s still alive. Many have not been so lucky.
Gay Refugees From ISIS - The Daily Beast