A gay man in Afghanistan has described how the Taliban killed his boyfriend and “cut his body into pieces” to “show what they do with gay people”.
The 26-year-old, going by the pseudonym of “Gabir” to protect his identity, told the i that he and his boyfriend were sitting in a restaurant together in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, when the city was seized by the Taliban on 15 August.
They both rushed back to their respective homes, and soon Gabir was unable to get hold of his partner as his phone signal and internet connection began to fail.
He said: “At 5 or 6 o’clock, my brother told me something has happened, that ‘you should contact your friends’. When I call my friends, everyone’s phone is off.”
Tragically, Gabir finally discovered from a friend that his boyfriend, who was just 24 years old, had been tracked down by the Taliban and killed.
“Two cars came, with Taliban in it,” he said.
“They said, ‘Where is his home?’ and beat him so much. They took him away – nobody knows where – and then they kill him.
“Afterwards they said they brought the body [back] and cut his body into pieces to show the people that this is what we do with gay people.”
Gabir and his boyfriend had been together for eight months after meeting at university, and had been planning to leave Afghanistan to get married.
Following the young man’s horrific death, Gabir hasn’t even had time to grieve, as he is in hiding and fearing for his own life.
He recently received an anonymous call from someone who told him: “I know you are gay, before capturing Kabul we knew everything about you, you have three or four friends who are gay, you have a boyfriend.
“Once we settle here in Kabul we will not let you live. If we find you, we will kill you.”
Since then, Gabir has been on the run, but he said: “I’m 100 per cent sure I’m going to die. There is no hope for me.”
In a heartbreaking message to the British government, Gabir added: “I just want to leave this country. I don’t want to die.
“I don’t want them to kill me and cut me into pieces like they did my boyfriend.
“We deserve to live… Please, please, please, save us.”
Sadat, who fled Kabul in 2013 after his life was threatened over his LGBT+ rights activism, explained that queer Afghans were already living in fear and secrecy before the 2021 Taliban offensive.
Homosexuality was illegal in the country even under a democratically elected government. Now, under Sharia law, it is punishable by death.
“The Taliban will impose a ‘bait, kill and dump’ policy,” Sadat told PinkNews.
“That is, they will appoint informants to lure gay and bisexual men online and in public spaces and take them to a secluded spot and kill them and dispose of their bodies.
“I know this because that is what undercover Taliban elements within Afghan government during the Karzai and Ghani era did and those who escaped shared their story with me.”
He added: “LGBT+ Afghans really don’t have any options. They can either await a slow death or a quick one. Whatever little joy they had will evaporate knowing that the Taliban can take their life at any moment.”
by Lily Wakefield
Source – PinkNews
