Persecution of Homosexuals

Note that this page may contain news regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, transvestite, and transsexual people (LGBTT)
Homosexuality is considered to be one of the worst sins in Islam and one of the greatest crimes punishable under Islamic law. The Prophet Muhammad not only condemned homosexuality but even the "appearance" of homosexuality (effeminate men and masculine women). With the rise of the Islamic population amongst historically non-Muslim societies, also comes the rise in persecution. For example, while Muslims comprise just 2% of the total British population, they commit 25% of all anti-Homosexual crimes. However, this ongoing and increasing persecution of homosexuals by Muslims around the world, rarely makes the mainstream news. Thanks to the Internet, those of us who search can find many news items that would otherwise be lost.

Afghanistan

• Three men are buried alive under a pile of stones and a wall is pushed on top of them by a tank, as punishment for sodomy in the town of Kandahar
• Two men are executed via a wall being bulldozed on top of them, as punishment for sodomy in the western province of Herat
• 84-year-old man who is impotent, is 'stoned' by collapsing wall as punishment for attempting a homosexual act
• American adviser to the Afghan government and an Afghan man arrested and jailed for homosexual activity. American faces possible jail term of 5-15 years
• "Please have mercy, don't make fun of me," Afghan police officers publicly humiliate cross-dresser and force him to remove clothing and wig on camera before arresting him

Algeria

• France provides asylum for Algerian transsexual who had been threatened by Islamic fundamentalist rebels, and then sexually abused by the police after seeking their help
• Gay man whose homosexual friends were executed in 1994 and 1996, and who witnessed the stoning of two gay men in 2001, seeks asylum in the UK after he was beaten and threatened with death by Muslims

Australia

• Armed Muslims pray for protection in Arabic before ambushing a 52-year-old man outside a gay & bisexual club, fire seven shots and almost kill him with three bullets in the groin, back and leg

Bahrain

• Police crackdown on gay migrant workers. At least 2,000 gay Filipino workers will be deported
• Cross-dresser arrested and charged with committing an immoral act (he was driving his car while dressed in female attire and make-up)
• Nine Arab cross-dressers, heavily made-up and wearing "provocative" outfits, arrested at a hotel disco and charged with public debauchery
• 127 gay people arrested in police raid for holding "depraved and decadent" party in the village of Hidd
• Cross-dresser arrested for walking down a busy road wearing a wig, shorts and mascara, jailed for a month. Lawmakers wary of the growing number of gays, pushing for a crackdown, including the deportation of foreigners

Bangladesh

• Gay couple seeks refuge after being stoned, whipped, cast out from their families and community, and a local cleric issued a fatwa calling for their deaths
• United States grants political asylum to a Bangladeshi gay man who was threatened with stoning, raped by police, forced into electroshock treatment and ordered by his family to enter into an arranged marriage
• Young lesbian couple flee Pirojpur to start a new life together, but police track-down and arrest them in their Dhaka flat for marrying each other, threatened with life imprisonment

Belgium

• Moroccan Muslim faith healer who was called by parents to 'treat' their 18 year-old lesbian daughter, is arrested over her burning death

Bosnia

• At least eight people injured as Muslims attack gays at Bosnia's gay festival. Muslim protesters chant "Kill the Gays!" and "Allahu Akbar!" Festival organisers receive death threats

Canada

• Gay Toronto mayoral candidate is the target of smear flyers asking “Should Muslims vote for him who married a man?”
• Muslim cleric preaches adulterers and gays can benefit from being stoned to death as his or her soul is being purified

Egypt

• 55 men arrested and subjected to beatings, electroshock, torture, and abuse in order to force confessions. 52 men charged with "obscene behavior" and "contempt for religion"
• The Egyptian State Information Service says homosexuality "defies normality," officially branding homosexuals "perverts" who spread AIDS
• Gay Israeli tourist arrested and interrogated by the Egyptian authorities after meeting someone who he had met in a chat room. Held in custody in Cairo Prison for more than two weeks
• Egyptian government arrests and tortures 100's of men suspected of homosexual activity. Gays bound, suspended painfully, burned or submerged in ice-cold water, and subjected to electroshock on limbs and genitals
• Five men charged with the "habitual practice of debauchery". Prosecutor says the men, four of whom are HIV-positive, should not be allowed to "roam the streets freely" because they're "a danger to public health"
• Country's only gay magazine announces after publishing its first and only issue, "We have been forced to shut down the online magazine due to security reasons"
• Satirist criticized for “insulting Islam” after hosting a band whose lead singer is gay, accused of “giving (homosexuals) a platform”

Eritrea

• Three Western employees working at a luxury hotel in Asmara are expelled from Eritrea for 'immorality'

France

• French Muslim soccer team refuses to play against a team which promotes homosexual rights and has gay players. Team director says "As a Muslim, I have the right not to play against homosexuals"
• "By the Quran, we will kill you all, you faggots!" Five Muslims attack gay club in Paris beating the bouncers and spraying some attendants, including the vice president of IDAHO, with tear gas
• Gay man beaten severely for walking through a Muslim suburb of Paris with his boyfriend, injuries include a missing tooth, broken bones, and fractured pieces of bone in his skull

Gambia

• President threatens to behead gays, and to sack gay and lesbian soldiers in Gambia, describing homosexuality as "evil and ungodly"
• Eighteen homosexuals (16 Gambians, one Nigerian and one Senegalese national) charged with "indecent practice" among themselves in a public place, refused bail

Ghana

• Muslim leaders demonstrate against government over growing rate of homosexuality. Sheikh Abdul Aziz says the Muslim group will "do its best to ensure the sexual act is brought to an end"
• Federation of Muslim Councils calls for "crusade" against the "filthy, indecent, immoral and unhealthy" practice of homosexuality which will destroy the "moral fabric of society", urging Parliament to make it a punishable offence
• “We as a people do not have to endorse this kind of behavior," National Chief Imam's office says Muslims in Ghana may stage a demonstration against plans by the UK government to "legitimise homosexuality"
• 30 Muslims storm the house of a man who "flaunted" his homosexuality in a Muslim-dominated area, strip him naked and lynch him before mounting a search for his partner

India

• Islam battles decriminalization of homosexuality. Muslim leaders say "Homosexuality is offence under Shariat Law and haram in Islam," and legalisation of homosexuality is "an attack on Indian religious and moral values"
• Health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, speaking at the national HIV/AIDS convention, calls homosexuality a "foreign disease" that is growing in India
• Founder and president of the Islamic Research Center (IRC), says transgender are 'dirty' and genetically 'defective', quotes Prophet Muhammad and says they should be expelled from their homes and villages

Indonesia

• Burning down of a hotel and the killing of participants leads to the cancellation of NGLN meeting, and an LGBT event commemorating World AIDS Day is attacked by Muslims who destroy equipment and assault attendees with knives and clubs, injuring over 25 and sending 3 to hospital
• Muslim communities thwart Indonesia's protection for gays. Government grants local authorities the right to use Islamic law, and several have recently passed laws making homosexuality illegal
• Police ban regional gay conference, fearing it could prompt violent protests. A member of the cleric council says "The event will hurt Indonesian Muslims because lesbians and gays are contrary to Islamic teaching"
• Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), Indonesia's highest Islamic body, issues a fatwa banning sex-change operations
• 150-strong Muslim mob attack hotel and assault organiser in response to a planned (but ultimately cancelled) international LGBT conference, and another LGBT conference planned for a month later also stormed by Muslims
• Muslims protest gay-themed movie, claiming it has been "destroying the morale of Indonesian people" and is "not in accordance with the teachings of Islam"
• Government minister and member of the AIDS commission posts anti-gay comments and jokes about AIDS
• Religious police forces lesbian couple apart and put them under 'surveillance', threatening them with beheading. "They must be beheaded and burned... We are actually allowed by our religion to kill them"
• Highest Islamic body says transgenders "have to accept their fate to be ridiculed and harassed." Indonesia's National Commission for Human Rights receives 1,000 reports of abuses per year, ranging from murder to rape
• Police forcibly cancel speaking event by Lesbian activist, saying her "mission to promote homosexuality" among Muslims threatened public order after hundreds of Muslims congregated outside demanding an end to it
• Transgender festival in Jakarta canceled after the Islamic Defenders Front turn up to the event dressed in helmets and armed with sticks demanding the organizers shut it down
• "We reject homosexuals here, so last week we raided their house," married couple chased from their village after neighbors discover they are lesbians
• Homosexuals living in Aceh province will be publicly lashed 100 times under proposed bylaw backed by capital’s deputy governor
• Indonesia is one of the least tolerant countries in the world regarding homosexuality, 93% say gays should not be accepted. Unlike other countries, attitudes are not changing with the younger generation

Iran

• 4,000 lesbians and gays have been executed since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Methods of execution include; beheading, chopped in two, stoning to death, burning alive, and being thrown alive from a high building
• Name, age and method of execution records for 152 individuals charged with homosexuality related offences between 1979 - 2007
• Gay Iranian who had been persecuted because of his sexuality and had been thrown in jail, shoots and kills himself after his UK asylum appeal is denied
• Iranian President in a speech at a top US university: "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country"
• Two teens held in prison for 14 months and severely beaten, are publicly executed in Edalat (Justice) Square for the crime of homosexuality
• Two men are publicly executed in Shahid Bahonar Square for the crime of homosexuality
• A man is executed for acts he (allegedly) committed at the age of 13, even though the alleged victims withdrew their accusations and reportedly stated that they had either lied previously or had been forced to “confess”
• Gay men are being persecuted, tortured and coerced into undergoing sex reassignment procedures. Transsexuals are being coerced into sex/raped by their surgeons
• 18-year-old man is sentenced to death by hanging for 'sexual assault', despite his accuser admitting that he lied, and withdrawing his accusation of sexual assault
• Transexual is robbed and strangled to death by her brothers in her apartment because they “opposed her immorality”
• 2 heterosexual footballers suspended and fined £25,000 each for the "shameless" and "ugly" act of buttock squeezing during a goal celebration. They now face a possible two months in prison and 74 lashes
• Influential cleric entitled to issue juristic rulings says homosexuals are inferior to dogs and pigs, blames them for the spread of Aids and says pro-gay western lawmakers are lower than animals
• Iranian legal code does not "differentiate between rape and homosexual acts", another four men sentenced to death by hanging for sodomy in accordance to Shari'ah law

Iraq

• 'Moderate' Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani calls for the killing of lesbians and gay men in the "worst, most severe way possible". Widespread reports of killings are "the tip of an iceberg of religious-motivated summary executions"
• "Every gay and lesbian here lives in fear, just pure fear, of being beaten or killed." Targeted by death squads in an escalating campaign of "sexual cleansing", homosexuals are becoming prisoners in their own homes
• Death squads are killing suspected gays by gluing their anuses shut with "Iranian gum" and inducing diarrhea. In some cases, hospitals refusing to treat victims. Tribes declare gay lives as worthless and allow deaths
• Sixty-eight gay and trans-gendered men have been killed within the space of four months, bringing the total number of killings of Iraqis because of their sexuality to 678 since 2004
• "The killers aren't just executing their gay victims. They are "mutilating their bodies and torturing them." At least 82 gay men have been killed in the first 7 Months of 2009
• Iraqi security forces may have colluded and joined in the killing of homosexuals. Bodies of four gay men are found, each bearing a sign reading "pervert" in Arabic. Another found with genitals cut off and throat ripped out
• Muslim gangs using the internet to track-down, torture and kill gays. Responsible for the deaths of more than 130 gay Iraqi men since the beginning of the year
• Wave of attacks against those perceived to be homosexual or too masculine/feminine, leads to 42 people in less than 1 month being kidnapped, tortured and murdered (dismembered or beaten to death with concrete blocks)

Israel

• Gay teen previously threatened by relatives demanding he "act like a normal person", is kidnapped and beaten by them in a 12-hour ordeal. Relatives arrested attempting to "hide" their victim in a village house
• "Human Rights Watch continues to be driven by an anti-Israel bias and lack of focus on real human rights issues in the Middle East, including women’s rights, religious freedom, and sexual freedom"

Italy

• Lesbian couple insulted then assaulted by "Arab" immigrants

Jordan

• Authorities arrest ten gays and lesbians after they hold a reception at a party hall, say it is to "prevent a disturbance of the peace"

Kenya

• Council of Imams oppose using taxpayers money to count gay people in the country, as this would amount to recognising their existence; "gayness is contrary to the constitution order"
• Shaykh blames drought on homosexuals, and clerics call on the government to allow them to apply Shariah laws to deal with rising cases of homosexuality. "Death is the only punishment prescribed by Islam for such people"
• Gay, lesbian and HIV-infected Somali refugees face violent persecution for "the most infamous crime" should they return home, would prefer to spend life in a Kenyan jail over returning to Somalia and face stoning

Kuwait

• Magazine sued and professor dismissed from Kuwait University for suggesting that homosexuality exists in the emirate. Famous novelist also facing obscenity charges for a book of short stories dealing with homosexuality
• Widespread arrests of over a dozen cross-dressers. Subjected to physical and psychological abuse, they remain in Tahla Prison
• Police raid a party where homosexuals celebrate a wedding, and 28 gays are charged with "creating a public disturbance" after they met outside a fast-food restaurant
• Police arrest two gays for committing 'immoral' acts inside a car
• Two young cross-dressers arrested by security-men, taken to a nearby police station for interrogation and legal action
• Two lesbians who were allegedly caught making love on a beach are whisked away by police for interrogation
• Three male youths arrested in a shopping mall for cross-dressing
• Police raid apartments and arrest five cross-dressers and four homosexuals, referring them to the authorities for committing "immoral acts"
• Police arrest 10 people, four of them cross-dressers, in a raid on their apartment in Salmiya. They are now being "referred" to the "concerned authorities"
• Police arrest a 20-year-old cross-dresser and referred him to the General Department for Criminal Investigation, after he was "caught" when he asked a passing patrol to help him change a flat car tyre
• Morality police arrest at least 10 LGBT teenagers suspected of homosexuality for “satanic rituals” and “indecent acts” under a crackdown in the name of “morality”, another 20 men arrested for “suspicious parties”
• 215 young homosexuals arrested during an extensive campaign at Internet cafes and 'suspicious places'

Lebanon

• Two lesbians arrested for engaging in “unnatural” sexual practices
• Asylum seeker whose former lover was beaten and his gay cousin was shot in the anus and later killed, fears being arrested, tortured, or killed if sent back to Lebanon
• Two gay men caught making love in an uninhabited building. Soldiers insult, humiliate and savagely beat them in public. One of the half naked men is paraded in front of the public before being arrested
• Men shamed and gay cinemas shut down after MTV show broadcasts undercover camera footage, MTV host says Hitler his personal idol, and sometimes a person like him is needed in order to reduce the number of gays
• Security authorities raid and shut down a gay cinema, arrest and detain 36 men, perform anal probes on them ("the practice involves an egg-shaped device being inserted into the anus to find traces of sperm")
• Two men (in their 20s and 30s) arrested in Beirut’s Ashrafieh after being caught "committing actions against decency" in a car

Libya

• After vowing "No violations of human rights will take place", post-Islamic Awakening Libya tells UN Rights Council, “Gays threaten continuation of human race”. Human rights activists say, “Gays are now paying the price”
• Muslim group who claim to be under the authority of the Ministry of Interior, abduct a dozen gay men from a private party held in Tripoli, say they are to be mutilated and executed, online image receives 315 ‘likes’

Malaysia

• Malaysia's state-run television network bans gays and transvestites from appearing on its programs. "Any artiste who is proven to be a gay will come under the ban. We do not want to encourage any form of homosexuality"
• Police raid a drag beauty pageant and arrest all the contestants. 45 charged with wearing female clothes and posing as women in a public place. 34 contestants released on bail, while the other 11 remain behind bars
• Malaysian group known as the "People's Anti-Homosexual Voluntary Movement" gives itself an official launch
• In one year, 111 men are arrested in Kuala Lumpur for "attempting to commit homosexual acts." Malaysia’s Islamic Affairs Department: "Homosexuals are shameless people" and "Homosexuality is a crime worse than murder"
• Malaysian Prime Minister warns the UK, "Any gay British minister taking their male partner to Malaysia would be thrown out of the country"
• Speaking to a crowd of more than 300,000, Malaysian Prime Minister attacks gays and Western “homo” media in national TV speech and warns “if there are any homosexuals in Malaysia they had better mend their ways”
• Sentenced to nine years in jail over a false charge of engaging in sodomy, the former deputy prime minister of Malaysia is acquitted and finally released after serving six years of his sentence
• “The RMN (Royal Malaysian Navy) will never accept homosexuals as we have to protect the image of the navy,” says Navy chief
• Gay people should not govern mostly Muslim Malaysia, former prime minister says in a court filing. "Malaysia is officially an Islamic country"
• Islamist opposition party demands authorities to cancel a planned Adam Lambert concert which they say is promoting "gay culture" in the mainly Muslim country
• More than 30 men caught partially or totally naked in a police raid on illegal 'gay' spas. Two detained
• Gay man receives death threats after revealing his sexuality in an online video. He is now afraid to go out alone, and avoids spending time in public places
• "No matter gay, straight or bi, lesbian, transgendered life, I'm on the right track baby." Lady GaGa's "offensive" lyrics in 'Born This Way' censored by Malaysia
• Malaysia sends 66 'effeminate' teen boys to anti-gay counseling to help prevent them from potentially becoming gay or transvestites
• Sabah Islamic Affairs Department (JHEAINS) officers round up several transvestites, a hetrosexual couple, and foreigners, in a sting to curb "vice, immoral and criminal" activities
• Court rejects transsexual’s name change. Estimated 50,000 transsexuals in Malaysia, but few dare to come forward. Many face daily discrimination and harassment, forcing them to earn their living as sex workers
• Gay Christian pastor to defy government with wedding banquet. Government leaders and state-linked media criticize him, and Islamic Affairs Minister says authorities concerned that he is advocating "extremism"
• Islamic party protests Elton John's show, saying the singer's homosexuality would corrupt young Muslims. "What he is doing is hedonism. Hedonism is not good in Islam" (and again in 2012)
• Police order gay rights activists to cancel gay festival aimed at fighting discrimination, after criticism by the deputy prime minister and plans by several Muslim groups to protest the event
• Court rejects a petition by gay rights activists and upholds police ban on its arts and music festival
• “There has been a rising wave of threats made against the LGBT community...," LGBT activists cite security concerns for not holding demonstration on the International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia (IDAHO)
• Effective immediately, Malaysia bans gay or effeminate male characters from appearing on television, radio or in movies, in order to "curb the influence of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community"
• "They accuse me (a lesbian) of trying to convert other girls", Government announces it is monitoring organizations "trying to influence teens towards free sex and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transexual activities"
• "This group is already being persecuted and intimidated. And now they are trying to expose people and continue to attack them", Government endorses parenting guide that describes symptoms of homosexuality
• Four transsexuals who were all previously arrested for cross-dressing under Islamic law, lose a landmark case challenging Islamic law that bars them from dressing as women
• Government runs parenting workshops on curbing LGBT behavior described as "a social illness" and backs anti-LGBT, pro-Islam musical that aims to educate youngsters and parents on "the bad things about LGBT"

Maldives

• Gay Sufi-atheist blogger who called for religious tolerance is detained for more than a week by authorities who accuse him of blasphemy and of promoting anti-Islamic concepts such as gay rights

Morocco

• 66-year-old British man is jailed in Morocco for committing homosexual acts
• 13 people involved in making homosexual pornographic films are sentenced to a total of 30 years imprisonment and incur fines ranging from MAD 1,000 to MAD 30,000
• Six men are sentenced to prison for ‘homosexual conduct’ after hundreds march through the streets, denouncing the men’s alleged actions and calling for their punishment
• Media hysteria and large and riotous anti-gay demonstrations hit Morocco. Protestors among a demonstration of 1,000 people attack the house where a "homosexual marriage" allegedly took place
• Two men in their twenties, found "together in a car", are sentenced to four months in jail by a court in Temara for being homosexuals

Netherlands

• First they came for the gays; "Sharia law may still be an alien concept to some Westerners, but it's staring gay Europeans right in the face"
• Gang of ten Muslim youths drag a gay model from the catwalk and beat him during a fashion show meant to promote tolerance towards gay people
• Gay couple attacked by a Muslim who sees them holding hands. Mugger claims "This is a Muslim area, and we don’t tolerate this stuff here"
• Dutch Muslim forces his neighbours to move homes by threatening them with a knife and a gun. He mistook the two brothers for a homosexual couple, calling them "Dirty gay people"
• Amsterdam: “The gay-bashing capital of Europe.” Two thirds of the predators are Muslim youths. Media criticized for silence over Islamic gay bashing
• Gay couple sues Dutch authorities over intimidation and violence. Over two years the men were continually intimidated, the windows of their house were broken, and their car was damaged by Moroccan youths
• Muslim mob from Sharia4Belgium storm a discussion on Islam in Amsterdam, throwing eggs at the audience and call for a Canadian Muslim lesbian author to be killed
• Turkey launches massive legal campaign to retrieve a child who was taken from abusive Muslim parents and placed with a loving lesbian couple. Claims "4000" Turkish children placed with gay or Christian Europeans

Nigeria

• Gay man sentenced to death by stoning after it was alleged he had sex with an underage male. Human rights activists in Britain and elsewhere suggest the confession may have been coerced
• Transvestite faces a possible one year in prison. Friend says even though he had not engaged in any indecent behavior he still deserved to be punished “because he had broken Islamic laws”
• Gay man on the run after his partner “confessed” to having a gay relationship with him and a Shari'ah court issues an arrest warrant. Both are being charged with the “unholy” act of being gay
• Gay man whose partner was murdered by an angry mob, is granted asylum in the U.S. after being detained for 11 Months
• 50-years-old man who was acquitted of the charge of sodomy, sentenced to death by stoning after admitting that he has previously had homosexual sex
• Two men are charged with committing sodomy and could now face being stoned to death after they were caught together in a toilet
• Following an elaborate wedding celebration, a polygamous lesbian and her four wives go into hiding from the Islamic police. The theatre which hosted the celebration is demolished by city's authorities
• Eighteen men wearing women's clothes at a "gay wedding" are arrested for alleged sodomy. Shari'ah judge orders them remanded in prison. May face being stoned to death
• Gays and lesbians "too dirty" for Allah. Scholar seeks death penalty and says they are worse than murderers and deserve more than capital punishment. “When they are killed, their corpse should also be mistreated”

Pakistan

• Three men are arrested at a party after they were caught having sex with each other
• Gay couple get "married" in Pakistan. The pair are told to leave or be killed for breaking religious and tribal "values and ethics"
• Muslim cleric says "Homosexuals must be killed – it's the only way to stop them spreading. It should be by beheading or stoning, which the general public can do"
• Ostracised by villagers for his alleged sexual preferences, the 60-year-old suspected homosexual is pulled from his home and beaten to death with clubs and rods by a Muslim mob
• Gays are "the curse of society and social garbage". Islamic political and religious officials condemn meeting by U.S. Embassy supporting gay rights, calling it "the second most dangerous attack by the U.S. against Pakistan"
• Gunmen open-fire on a dance party in Buner. 3 killed, including 1 transvestite, and another transvestite injured
• Senior member of transgender community tortured and threatened to leave the southern Kohat district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, all members flee to an undisclosed location

Palestine

• Palestinian Authority takes part in widespread and sadistic intimidation, torture, imprisonment and deaths of gays
• Gay Palestinian men are risking their lives to cross into Israel, claiming they feel safer among Israelis than their own people. There are now 300 gay Palestinian men secretly living and working in Israel
• Gay Christian Palestinian who fled the PA for Israel, criticizes the oppressive Palestinian society and says, in contrast, Israel allows gays the “freedom to express (their) sex and take pride in it”
• West Bank gays are more at home in Israel and fear the new wall will trap them where homosexuality is strictly taboo, sometimes violently so
• Openly gay man arrested and beaten by police due to his sexual orientation. His family disown him and warn him against returning to Nablus. Now petitioning for asylum with his partner in Israel

Qatar

• American citizen sentenced to receive 90 lashes during a 6-month prison term for "homosexual activity," and 36 gay Filipino workers are deported
• Gay and suspected gay workers are banned in Qatar
• Filipino worker on charges of sodomy is forced to submit to a rectal examination. Receives 40 lashes on his buttocks and spends 7 ½ months in a detention cell, during which he is raped by a Palestinian co-detainee

Russia

• Imam tells Muslims to boycott Elton John concert, brands him as the “devil’s work in the shape of a pederast”

Saudi Arabia

• Nine young Saudi men are each sentenced to at least 2,400 lashes and at least five years in prison for "deviant sexual behavior"
• Saudi executes three Yemeni men found guilty of "committing the extreme obscenity of homosexuality and imitating women". They had also been convicted of molesting boys
• More than a hundred men are sentenced to imprisonment and flogging after being arrested for “deviant sexual behaviour” (they were arrested for dancing and “behaving like women” at a private party)
• Authorities arrest 20 young men for "emulating women" after raiding a suspected gay wedding
• Two homosexual men are sentenced to 7000 lashes each after being convicted of sodomy
• Ministry of Education Textbooks, 2007-2008 Academic Year: Homosexuality is one of the most disgusting sins and greatest crimes... The punishment for homosexuality is death... he should be stoned, or thrown from a high place"
• Police arrest 71 gay foreigners at a Party held in Riyadh for wearing "indecent" clothes and conducting themselves in an "indecent" manner, and a further 55 men accused of homosexuality from a party held in Sihat
• Arabic translation of the book "Gay Travels in the Muslim World" renamed "Pervert Travels in the Middle East" by Arab publisher
• Gay Saudi diplomat says his life is in danger and seeks political asylum in the U.S. after Saudi officials discover he is gay and has a Jewish female friend
• Saudi Prince could face execution in Saudi Arabia; not for murdering his male servant, but for being a homosexual
• Gay British nurse spends 6 months in jail on charges of homosexuality. Savagely beaten and tormented with the threat of being decapitated
• Three Asian men arrested and due to appear in court for cross-dressing. They have confessed to using cosmetics and acting feminine
• Saudi police arrest 20 gays attending a wedding party in the southern province of Jazan
• "They were caught dancing and hugging each other... Some of them wore dresses", 49 gays arrested during police raid on a rest house where they were staging a party
• The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice bans the entry of gay and "tom-boy" students to all public schools and universities
• Religious police permanently closes health club after arresting five local gays in a raid triggered by a tip-off about the club’s “suspected activities”
• Police raid major hotel, arrest six Filipinos who had used their massage centre to “engage in homosexual acts,” confiscate condoms, creams and “contaminated blades”

Senegal

• In a country where homosexuality is illegal and those who admit their homosexuality are threatened and assaulted, the fledgling gay movement is battling for recognition in the struggle against HIV/AIDS
• Police arrest and then release several men over the publication of pictures said to depict a wedding ceremony between two men. Editor of the magazine receives death threats
• Nine men, including a prominent activist, convicted of homosexual acts and sentenced to eight years in prison
• The corpse of a homosexual man is dug up twice from a Muslim cemetery and dumped at his families doorstep

Somalia

• Two women accused of having a lesbian relationship are sentenced to death for "exercising unnatural behaviour". Hundreds cheer as the judge hands down the sentences
• Gangs with guns search the streets for people they suspected of being gay, while others in Somalia are being compelled into arranged marriages, driven to commit suicide, and even attacked and killed by family
• 18-year old found guilty of sodomy, buried in the ground up to his chest and stoned to death. Judge says sentence more severe than for murder because "homosexuality is more punishable in Islam"

Sudan

• 19 men are flogged in public and are fined 1000 Sudanese Pounds (approximately 400 US dollars) for cross-dressing
• Seven men are convicted of 'indecency' for wearing lighting makeup during a fashion show and are fined 200 Sudanese pounds

Tajikistan

• Homophobia widespread due to "strong influence of Islam" and many Tajiks believe gays "should be killed or isolated". Health official says "Homosexuality is contrary to nature... Many doctors still see it as a disease"
• Gay flight attendant hangs himself after being subjected to continuous blackmail and gay student stabbed to death. Police harassment, blackmail, arbitrary arrest and physical violence against LGBT individuals widespread

Tanzania

• Following Friday prayers, a mob of 300 Muslims take to the street, protesting the arrival of gay tourists from America, and accusing them of bringing immorality to Tanzania
• Zanzibar lawmakers outlaw gay sex because "Zanzibar is predominantly Muslim, and in Islam, homosexuality is strictly prohibited”
• Zanzibar sets a 25-year prison penalty for homosexual sex between men, and a seven year prison penalty for lesbian sex
• To the outside world, Zanzibar is a tourist’s paradise, but for gays it has become a hotbed of persecution with Islamic groups spearheading a campaign to cleanse the island of “corrupting” practices such as homosexuality
• Planned Freddie Mercury birthday celebrations are cancelled, after Muslims threaten to disrupt the event which they claim would have "gone against their faith, and that it would have brought shame to Zanzibar"

Tunisia

• "0.0% is better than a successful faggot." A 'Liberty' march denies LGBT rights. Gays shocked to be greeted by homophobic signs and slogans used by their fellow left wing activists
• Gay magazine editor faces religious hatred and death threats, Human Rights minister thinks mag should be banned, says that "sexual orientation is not a human right and sexual perversion needs to be treated medically"
• "Tunisians are entitled to basic protection, lesbian, gay and bisexual people are not included," Tunisia says no to decriminalizing homosexuality because it is "incompatible with Islam"

Turkey

• Turkey's Culture Ministry restricts the viewing of the Oscar-winning gay romance 'Brokeback Mountain', saying the movie violated public morals
• Broadcasting watchdog blocks reality television show in which men would compete to look and act like women, due to "intense public reaction against the proposed program"
• Eleven gays are killed within the first half of 2009
• Turkey suspends a gay referee after he 'outs' himself on television. Friends break off contact with him, and another referee says "It's entirely possible that he'd give more free kicks to a good-looking player"
• Father shoots and kills his homosexual son after after he tells him about his relationship with a man from Germany
• Gay and lesbian internet forums are shut down by censorship
• Discrimination at the workplace and in the courts for the LGBT community in Turkey
• Total of 45 gay and transgendered people have been killed in three years of "hate murders". Five people killed in February 2010 alone
• Turkey punished by the European Court of Human Rights for banning a book about a pop star that discussed his sexual orientation
• Government targets multiple Turkish LGBT organisations. Another gay group which had been harassed and condemned as "immoral" by the local government is ordered to close
• The words "gay" and "anal" among the words banned from the internet by government, cited as "indecent" or "provocative". Over 120,000 websites containing these words will be ordered to close
• 16 people murdered in 2010. 89 percent of transgender women experience physical violence during police detention. Turkish MP: “I believe homosexuality is a biological disorder, an illness and should be treated”
• “I cleansed my honor”, Muslim murders brother, shot in the head for being a transsexual
• "The face must be visible, and the photos must show you as the passive partner," gays face humiliating ordeal to prove their homosexuality and to obtain pink certificate that says they have a "psychosexual disorder"
• Mayor of Turkish capital Ankara on live TV, "We can't approve and live together with the gay culture in Europe. Our morals are different. Inshallah (hopefully) there won't be any gays in our Turkey and there shouldn't be"
• Prime minister attacks Dutch lesbians for adopting Turkish Muslim boy, instructs his government to take the case to the ECHR. Lesbians go into hiding after being stalked by Turkish TV crew
• Country bans gay and bisexual male dating website as a "protective measure" following ruling by an Istanbul court
• Majority of LGBT prisoners are being held in solitary confinement, and are not allowed to join activities with other prisoners. Justice minister also announces plans to build segregated prisons

United Arab Emirates

• Authorities shut down nightclub for hosting a gay night featuring a transvestite DJ from the UK
• Gays face forced medical treatment for their homosexuality
• Twenty-six men who were arrested at a "gay wedding" and charged with "homosexuality" are sentenced to five years each in prison
• Lebanese and Bulgarian lesbian couple are sentenced to a month each in prison for kissing on a public beach, will be deported after serving their term
• Two men are sentenced to a year each in prison on a conviction for homosexuality
• “It was a private party... where people were behaving and not even engaging in any public display of affection", 30 people from the LGBT community arrested during a private ‘after’ party in a Dubai hotel
• Belgian man who found himself unintentionally involved in a wrongly suspected murder case and had to admit that he’s homosexual is jailed for one year for having consensual sex with another man
• English-language paper suspends publication after it causes outrage by running an interview with a gay man living "in a country in which homosexuality is punishable by prison, beatings, and even death"

United Kingdom

• Muslims comprise just 2% of the total British population, yet they commit 25% of all anti-homosexual crimes
• Iranian Parliament Member tells British officials in London that homosexuals should be executed, originally indicating that homosexuals should be "tortured"
• City Council says "Bristol schools have a legal duty to report and deal with homophobic harassment as part of the curriculum since April 2007", but Muslims' fury forces schools to shelve anti-homophobia storybooks
• Women preachers at London's Central Mosque (claimed as being moderate) are promoting extremism, telling the female congregation that Christians are "vile and disgusting" as well as calling for the murder of gays
• 47 incidents in Tower Hamlets over the last 12 months, Muslim gangs carry out violent, life-threatening attacks on gay people in East London
• Muslim preacher calls for gays to be stoned to death, adding that this would include gay business secretary Lord Peter Mandelson
• 2009 Gallup survey finds that British Muslims have zero tolerance for Homosexuality. Not even a single British Muslim interviewed believed that homosexual acts were morally acceptable
• Failed Muslim asylum seeker beats and kicks a gay sales assistant to death
• Vice Chancellor of City University London, allows the Islamic Society to host Muslim preacher who advocates the murder of gays and apostates
• Families force suspected homosexual men into arranged marriages
• ‘Gays are un-Islamic.’ Muslims with megaphones disrupt the 3rd Derby Gay Pride festival, a street festival followed by a street parade of gays and lesbians
• Radical Islam is being openly practised at a leading university campus. Gay and Jewish students feel scared and intimidated
• Muslim parents try to persuade lesbian daughter to take her own life after beating, burning, abusing and forcing her to marry in an attempt to protect family 'honour'
• 5000 children attending Islamic schools in the UK which teach their pupils that ‘gays should be executed’
• Ibis Hotel to host Muslim conference which includes speakers who have stated homosexuality must be treated “harshly” to protect society and that “a slow and painful death by stoning” is the punishment
• Five Muslims delivering and handing out leaflets calling for homosexuals to be executed are the first ever to be prosecuted under the new anti-homophobia laws
• Muslims call for gay-free zone in East London, a venue attached to the East London mosque hosts a speaker who invited his audience to 'Spot the fag', and gay students at South Bank University are threatened
• Muslim on benefits and on bail for defacing women's fashion ad board, caught on CCTV posting stickers warning gays that homosexuality is wrong and "Allah is severe in punishment" outside church, hospital, etc.
• Police cover up violent campaign to turn London area Islamic. Muslim mob of 30 storm local gay pub beating and abusing patrons. Previous attack by Muslim mob left 20-year-old gay student permanently paralysed
• Gay anti-EDL activists holding placards such as 'Gays & Muslims UNITE! Stop the EDL', fear the threat of violence and are subjected to homophobic hostility from Muslim co-protesters who attempt to destroy placards
• "Get out of here you fag... don't stay around here any more," 'Muslim patrol' vigilante group enforces Shari'ah in London, abuse gay man on video and force people to stop drinking
• East London Mosque condemns homophobia, yet advertised four anti-gay speakers in the previous month alone
• "Torture them; punish them; beat them and give them mental torture," British Muslim channel says homosexuals should be beaten and tortured for the "evil, shameful act"
• Muslim tells students attending a meeting at the University of Manchester’s Students’ Union that "God would support the stoning of gay men" and "Kill gays for kissing"
• Protest over gay hate cleric's visit to university, protesters say he referred to homosexuals as "perverted, dirty, filthy dogs who should be murdered"
• First ever Muslim lesbian couple to wed in the UK are unable to have an Islamic wedding because they cannot find an Imam willing to conduct the service, receive death threats from both Pakistani and British Muslims
• Local mosque refuses to allow the country’s first transgender Muslim woman to pray with other women, faces victimization by worshipers
• Preacher attending Beloved to Allah conference in London says gays should be thrown off mountains and stabbed in the gums by Muslim dentists
• Chairman of the Islamic Centre in Luton believes gay people would be punished in an ideal society
• "You've messed with the wrong Muslims. We're going to kill you," Muslim siblings attempt to rob and kidnap their sister's lesbian lover. Victim repeatedly kicked, punched in the face and arms, left with permanent scars

United States

• Muslim illegal immigrants attack gay Georgetown medical students in Washington, saying if the victims were in their country, they would be stoned
• Muslims in Minnesota: "We hate gays" Somali Muslim youths shout abuse and throw rocks at a gay man
• The current status of LGBT Muslims and their stance in the Muslim community: Not one mosque in the U.S. accepts gay Muslims
• Muslim at Islam on Capitol Hill prayer event: "Homosexuals must be killed"
• Islamic cleric who condoned the Holocaust, supported the stoning of homosexuals and praised suicide bombers in Iraq, is now the lead theological consultant for the planned Muhammad Hollywood movie
• Muslim cab driver forces a gay couple out of his taxi after spotting them hugging each other
• 3 Muslims are held for anti-gay BB shooting. Authorities believe they have been targeting homosexuals in a series of similar attacks
• New Jersey jihadist of Palestinian heritage, talked of mutilating homosexuals and subordinating women in the name of Islam
• Ground zero mosque organizers complain that a planned gay bar next to the mega-mosque is insensitive
• New imam at the Ground Zero mosque believes people who are gay were probably abused as children and that people who leave Islam and preach a new religion should be jailed
• Lesbian and gay students at a New Jersey University threatened; "You will feel the wrath of Allah/ Your thoughts are immoral/ homosexuality is sin/ Allah says you must pay"
• Publicly-funded Islamic school criticized for comments made by an imam about homosexuality to students, "someone who is homosexual is like someone who had cancer or AIDS"
• Muslim who believes "homosexuals should be exterminated" sets ablaze a packed Seattle gay club on New Year’s Eve, forcing more than 750 people to flee into a nearby alley
• Muslim disgusted with his daughter’s homosexuality bludgeons her to death and shoots her lover before dumping the bodies. Police discover a Qur'an open to a page which talks about homosexuality in his bedroom

Yemen

• Two Muslim militants in the southern Lahj province shoot dead a 20-year-old man for being a homosexual, flee on their motorbike
• Muslim militants belonging to Ansar Al Sharia are responsible for the killings of 34 homosexual men in the country. LGBT rights group states homosexual sex is banned and homosexuality attracts the death penalty
• 25-year-old man accused of being homosexual is shot and wounded in front of his home, only days after the killing of another homosexual man
• Muslim militants on a motorbike open fire in a market in Huta, killing a 29-year-old man they believed was a homosexual
• Gunmen on a motorbike shoot dead another man outside his house in Huta because they suspected he was homosexual

International

• New president of the United Nations General Assembly, Ali Abdussalam Treki, says homosexuality is “not really acceptable”, and regarding the universal decriminalisation of homosexuality, “as a Muslim, I am not in favour of it”
• Islamic and Arab-African nations succeed in getting a U.N. General Assembly panel to delete condemnation of anti-gay killings from U.N. resolution
• 56 Islamic states slam gays for "abnormal sexual behaviour," warning UN to ignore anti-gay violence because it "have nothing to do with fundamental human rights." Muslim envoys walk out in protest of gay rights debate
• Pew survey finds seven of the ten countries that are least tolerant of homosexuality are Muslim majorities (Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Palestinian territories, Senegal and Tunisia)
• Gulf states to introduce medical testing on travellers to detect gay people and stop them from entering the country

This page is featured in the core article, Islam and Homosexuality which serves as a starting point for anyone wishing to learn more about this topic

See Also

• Persecution - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Persecution