Homosexuality in Syria

Homosexuality 

Homosexuality in Syria is not accepted and there are harsh punishments for committing homosexual acts. Section of 520 of the penal code in the Syrian Constitution criminalizes bodily lust against “the law of nature,” which according to Islamic law, means homosexuality. Anyone who commits this offense is subject to three years in prison. In 2010, the Syrian police began a crackdown that led to the arrests of over 25 men. The men were charged with various crimes regarding homosexual acts and encouraging homosexual behavior. With that being said, homosexuality in this context refers to sexual acts between males. Interestingly, there is no specific law regarding two females and the law remains ambiguous in that regard.

Men who are gay in Syria face double the threat

  1. President Assad

President Assad is extremely anti-gay and prohibits homosexual relations in Syria, which is directly stated in its constitution. President Assad has a specific police division responsible for the track down and charges of homosexuals in accordance with Syrian law. This division is called the “Criminal Security Division” and there is a subdivision known as the “Department of Protection of Public Moralities: Specifically, this division of officers goes looking for people who are accused of being gay. They arrest these people and the men are commonly abused, beaten, and killed.

  1. ISIS 

ISIS, which is a prominent terrorist organization that’s grounded in Syria, is also an anti-homosexual group. The Islamic State group has released many chilling images showing a man being stoned to death in for being gay. Many of the photographs show a blindfolded man with his hands tied behind his back, as a group of ISIS soldiers throw rocks at him from behind. Act’s such as these been reported many times an ISIS openly displays these photos across the media and in Syrian society. In another circumstance, photographs released by ISIS in Raqqa from March 2015, depict a large crowd, mainly men, all looking upward. On top of a building stand three men, faces covered with black balaclavas stand on either side of their victim while a fourth stands by and photographs. In the next minute, the man is thrown off the building. In the next photo, one can see a small crowd of men and the caption reads, “stoned to death” In this situation, this man was thrown off a building then stoned because he was accused of being gay.

ISIS Video by CNN

This video depicts the situations I mentioned above of a gay man being killed by ISIS. Specifically, the video shows a homosexual man being thrown off the roof then being stoned to death. This video also includes a one on one interview with a gay Syrian man named Nour. Nour tells his account of the situation going on in Syria and why he felt he needed to flee the country.

Click to access 4a16a9d92.pdf

http://english.the-syrian.com/2012/08/14/homosexual-and-anti-assad/

http://www.ibtimes.com/isis-stones-gay-man-death-syria-where-homosexuality-criminal-1875943

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/05/middleeast/isis-lgbt-persecution/

4 thoughts on “Homosexuality in Syria”

  1. Syria is extremely homophobic which concerns me. I am shocked to find out that men can serve up to three years in prison for being homophobic. Also, President Assad also does not support homosexuals, and hires police officers to hunt down for any homosexuals. They are then beaten, abused, and even might be killed. Last, Isis is stoning homosexuals to death which is a huge violation of human rights in my eyes.

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  2. Very informative post. It’s interesting to compare the punishments that are given for homosexual in both Bahrain and in Syria. In Bahrain, homosexuals are punished for up to 5 years in hard labor and up to ten years in prison due to breaking the Morality laws of the country. Doing my research, I did not find an organization or law enforcement group similar to the one in Syria, so seek out homosexual in order to punish them. Despite having difficult time in Bahrain, there is not prominent terrorist group such as ISIS that torture homosexuals in addition to the government. I believe that extremism ends up turning the punishment of these men into an unfortunate spectacle.

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  3. This post did an excellent job of portraying just how serious and graphic this problem is in this part of the world. The video was especially moving. Throwing men off buildings is barbaric enough, but stoning them as well shows just how archaic these practices are. Stoning was never a legal form of execution in the United States and the time that it happened was for another crazy reason; the belief that certain women were witches. Both of these instances are clearly ones in which innocent people were killed for an insane reason. Today, we know that women are not witches because they have stubborn personalities and we know that homosexuality is a personality trait that one is born with and does not choose. In parts of the world like Syria the society does not seem to have left ancient times. In order to put an end to senseless killing with barbaric methods, such as beheading them, these countries must find a way to balance their religious beliefs with modernity.

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  4. Just in case anyone came here by accident, everything above is one big convoluted lie.

    1) Assad is NOT anti-homosexual. Those laws were written in 1949, decades before he took power. These laws are NOT enforced. It is like the sodomy laws in the United States. The ONLY people enforcing these laws are devout Muslims who distrust the government because they won’t kill homosexuals

    2) Why is ISIS mentioned along with Assad? Assad has been fighting ISIS and Al Qaeda for 6 years because of this barbaric behavior. The US and the UN have been supported the “rebels” which are just very religious Muslims

    3) Assad is the ONLY secular leader in the entire Middle East (aside from Israel). Gays, transexuals, atheists, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, etc. have infinitely more freedom and rights in Syria than the other 10 Islamic nations. Syria has been was Iran was in the 60’s and 70’s. Assad is not even a practicing Muslim

    4) The ONLY “opposition” to Assad in Syria are religious Muslims. They follow the Koran which is not compatible with Western liberalism, which Assad embraces. Mind you, 65% of the nation is Sunni Muslim, 15% Shia Muslim, 10% Christian, and then 5% Atheist/Jew/Buddhist/etc. As Assad’s reach has dwindled, there has been mass genocide against Christians and other non-Muslims

    In conclusion — Syria is one of the safest “Muslim” nations. When looking at the widespread cancerous growth of Islam through the Middle East and Africa, it truly is not safe to be a homosexual or transexual around religious Muslims. However, Syria was on the turning point as Assad SUPPORTS freedom.

    Don’t believe the propaganda. My family escaped Syria last year because Assad’s army could not keep them safe from the local Muslims who did not approve of my homosexual brother and liberal family members.

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