Missing gay Syrian refugee found beheaded in Istanbul

[uawchild]

Source: The Guardian - UK

The body of a gay Syrian refugee who disappeared in central Istanbul was found mutilated and beheaded two days later, a local rights group has said.

Muhammed Wisam Sankari went missing on 23 July after leaving his home in the conservative Fatih district, Kaos Gay and Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Association said.

His killing has not been widely reported in Turkish media, other than in a handful of leftwing publications citing Kaos GL. There has so far been no official confirmation on whether he was killed for being gay.

Sankari arrived in Istanbul a year ago after fleeing the war in Syria, but wanted to leave Turkey because he feared for his life.

He was threatened by male gangs carrying knives, who said they wanted to rape him, friends told Kaos GL. One friend, who identified the body, told the organisation it was so mutilated, he was only recognisable from his clothes.


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/04/body-missing-gay-syrian-refugee-muhammed-wisam-sankari-found-beheaded-istanbul

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"They cut Wisam violently. It was so violent, two knives had broken inside of him. They beheaded him. His upper body was beyond recognition, his internal organs were out. We recognised our friend from his trousers,” the friend said.

Sankari had also been kidnapped and raped five months before his death, one of his housemates told Kaos GL. “They took him by car to a forest, where they beat and raped him,” his housemate Rayan said.

They previously had to leave a house because they were gay, Kaos GL said. There have been no arrests, the group reported.

Homosexuality has been legal in Turkey since 1923, when the republic was founded. It was also legal in the Ottoman empire from the mid 19th century.

However, gay people in Turkey regularly complain of harassment and abuse in a largely conservative Muslim society, where same-sex relationships are frowned upon.

Authorities in Istanbul banned the annual gay pride march in June for the second year in a row, citing security and public order fears."


As Turkey becomes less secular and yet more Islamic... very disturbing.

[oberliner]

1. "There has so far been no official confirmation on whether he was killed for being gay."

Only in The Guardian.

[King_David]

8. Think there was another reason?

[oberliner]

10. No, I think his being gay was definitely the reason

He has already been subjected to rape and beating for being gay.

[uawchild]

2. WTF

"Sankari had also been kidnapped and raped five months before his death, one of his housemates told Kaos GL. “They took him by car to a forest, where they beat and raped him,” his housemate Rayan said."

So, the anti-gay bigots prove their anti-gayness by raping a gay man? I am at a loss for words.

[FrodosPet]

3. Too many people in this world have a shattered soul

Whatever the cause... religion or just plain non-denominational machismo... some people in this world are defective and destructive.

We (as in ALL of us) need to provide positive guidance to children from the earliest ages, to help prevent them from becoming monsters.

[christx30]

7. It does make a little sense, from a sick point of view.

It's possible to rape someone you're not attracted to, especially if you rape someone with a foreign object.
Rape isn't about sex. It's about power. It's showing someone that you have power over them, and they have no ability to stop you.
If it's an anti-gay thing (which it totally looks like), the mentality is probably like rubbing a dog's face in something to punish them for bad behavior.

[leftynyc]

4. Barbarians

They're barely human. RIP Mr. Sankari.

[Matrosov]

5. Gang-raping a gay man to punish him for his homosexuality?

I'm not understanding the logic here. Oh, wait, there isn't any

[Oneironaut]

12. Kind of like how "sex is evil" but rape is ok.

Also, the West are evil murders, but it's ok for them to torture and kill someone in the worst way possible. If a woman is raped, then she needs to die, but the rapist is fine.

Radical and Conservative Islam are a mess of conflicting ideas that make no sense. It's interesting how so much cognitive dissonance could exist, but religion allows it somehow.

ISIS fighters and Islamic extremists paradoxically violate their own beliefs, and then use their extremist beliefs to justify violating their own beliefs.

[Throd]

6. Rape a male because he is gay?

I'm confused.

[King_David]

9. Turkey is no longer the only Muslim country safe for LGBTQ

Disgusting.

[romanic]

11. RIP Mr Sankari

You deserved a better life away from perverts and zealous bastards using Islam as an excuse to harm and persecute you.