The Taliban executed a homosexual man and sent the video of the brutal killing to the victim's family, causing outrage in Afghanistan.
According to the reports, a small LGBTQ+ activist group in Afghanistan with the name Behesht Collective said that Taliban members kidnapped a 22-year-old man named Hamed Sabouri of Kabul around August. They recorded a video shooting the victim in the back of his head. After the murder, they sent the video to the victim's mother.
“Sabouri was an ambitious yet shy young individual who had a dream to become a doctor before the Taliban came into power after the unexpected departure of the U.S. and combined forces in Afghanistan,” said Bahar, a homosexual man who is a member of the Behesht Collective and also a friend of Sabouri. The group created a campaign where anyone suspected of being or supporting the queer community would be tortured and executed, creating a climate of fear and despair. "Life is hell for every LGBT Afghan," said Bahar.
After learning about the execution of Sabouri through his phone, Bahar deleted all the photos and communication with Sabouri as soon as possible, as the Taliban regularly captured the phones of suspected gay men. This has caused gay men in the country to either "clean" or completely delete their social media accounts. The Taliban is on a hunt to exterminate anyone identifying as queer. "Taliban terrorists are worse than wild animals," said Bahar.
An anonymous friend of Sabouri blamed the U.S. and coalition forces for the death of Sabouri and many others for their negligence.
"His execution was deliberate and outside of any legal framework," said Nemat Sadat, an activist who helps homosexual men to cross the border to Pakistan for their safety. "I don't understand how people in good conscience around the world sit idle while the Taliban continue to rule with a total disregard for human life."
Since the 2021 Taliban offensive, the attacks upon the queer community have become more frequent. Last year a gay man using the pseudonym Gabir reported that the Taliban kidnapped and killed his boyfriend. After that, they returned his dismembered limbs and body parts as a warning. Another gay man was burned and tortured by the Taliban last year. Now he is hiding for his safety.
Gabir*, 26, doesn’t know how the Taliban found out about his boyfriend but he received an anonymous call from someone who appeared to be a Taliban member.
“He said, ‘I know you are gay, before capturing Kabul we knew everything about you...
…If we find you, we will kill you’.” pic.twitter.com/uDKGBRti7I— i newspaper (@theipaper) August 24, 2021
A non-binary gay person said they felt hopeless after the Taliban tortured and stabbed them eighteen times using a knife earlier this year. The attackers also humiliated them by saying, "Shame on you. It is our time to finish people like you."
"The death of Hamed Sabouri is further proof that the Taliban will not stop until they eradicate all gay people from Afghanistan," said Sadat, as he believes this is just the beginning of an age of fear and terror.
