Hamed Sabouri started to cry in a restaurant in Kabul, Afghanistan — his boyfriend of two years had positioned chilli pepper in his soup.
Sabouri, 22, hated chilli peppers. Couldn’t stand them, recollects Bahar (not his actual identify).
Bahar, 29, says the dinner date in 2020 is a ‘reminiscence of Hamed that can by no means be forgotten’.
He even remembers the kaftan he wore, how he was drained that day and the way Sabouri was a ‘very variety boy’. The 2 dated from 2018 to 2022.
Taliban forces kidnapped Sabouri in August — almost a 12 months to the day because the militants retook management — dragged him to an unknown location and shot him.
‘I discovered after 5:00am that Hamed was killed by the Taliban as a result of earlier than killing him, he referred to as me and informed me that I used to be underneath risk,’ Bahar says.
Bahar desperately tried to name him again, however Sabouri’s cellular had been switched off.
‘The Taliban despatched me a video of his dying,’ Bahar says of the four-second clip seen by seen by Metro.co.uk, including: ‘Telling me that you'll develop into Hamed.’
‘His reminiscence won't ever be forgotten,’ Bahar says.
Sabouri, from Kabul, was a daily star-gazer. He hoped to be a health care provider in the future, liked romance novels and listened to Michael Jackson and Justin Bieber.
Homosexual man ‘gang raped by six males with a machine gun’ in jail by Taliban
A single 12 months of Taliban rule has turned Bahar’s life the wrong way up.
‘Earlier than the Taliban got here, my life was nice, I used to be free,’ Bahar says. ‘I used to be not insulted anyplace, I had a love life in all places. I had intercourse with boys.
‘Now I dwell like a prisoner. I'm insulted and tortured in all places.’
‘My elder brother was a [Afghan Uniform Police] officer, he was shot in entrance of my eyes by Taliban terrorists,’ he provides.
Inside days of the Taliban seizing energy, Bahar was jailed for being homosexual. He escaped solely after bribing a guard earlier than altering his identify altogether.
However the Taliban proceed to hunt him down.
He has been despatched a number of threatening letters from the Ministry for the Propagation of Advantage and the Prevention of Vice, the state’s spiritual morality police.
One letter seen by Metro.co.uk says ‘residents’ have complained about Bahar being a ‘supporter of homosexuals’ who carries out ‘indecent acts’.
Ministry officers referred to as on him to be arrested ‘as quickly as doable’.
‘With the intention to forestall ethical corruption in society, there needs to be authorized punishment,’ the letter concludes.
‘Life may be very troublesome for me, I'm underneath critical threats, and I can’t go anyplace due to concern the Taliban are on the lookout for me,’ Bahar says.
He says that final 12 months, Taliban forces took his boyfriend’s cellphone at a checkpoint which was filled with homosexual intercourse movies.
Bahar had no different selection however to run from his dwelling, including he was arrested a second time for being homosexual in July.
‘The Taliban needed to execute me,’ he says. ‘I used to be severely tortured to the purpose of my life. Six individuals anally raped me for 3 days with a machine gun.
‘I skilled electrical and cable torture in jail, all day and night time.’
Bahar shared with Metro.co.uk a photograph of himself following one of many two beatings, exhibiting his again lined in lash marks and cuttings.
‘At 5am, when the Taliban invited the prisoners to prayer, I hid within the rubbish truck of the jail,’ he explains.
Bahar stayed inside for some three hours earlier than escaping the jail and ‘strolling for twenty-four hours to Jalalabad,’ the capital of the japanese Nangarhar Province.
His instances in jail stay scarred in his thoughts. He additionally had it etched, actually: his again and buttocks stay lined in bruises, his wrists scarred from the handcuffs he wore for months.
LGBTQ+ Afghans face ‘hidden genocide’, says native activist
Nemat Sadat, the chief director of the Afghan LGBTQ+ non-profit Roshaniya, says Sabouri was somebody along with his complete life forward of him.
Now he's a ‘casualty’ of the Tablian regime.
‘In the course of the 20 years of the democratic period, homosexuality was criminalised and LGBT+ individuals had no rights however as we speak they can not even breathe and face a hidden genocide underneath the Taliban,’ Sadat warns.
‘Hamed endured discrimination his complete life for being homosexual and his life got here to an abrupt finish with nobody there to assist him earlier than his life was taken away from him.’
Nafar Jan, of LGBTQ+ marketing campaign group Rainbow Afghanistan, says issues are solely getting worse for individuals like Sabouri and Bahar.
‘Daily, the Taliban is getting extra highly effective and any particular person can think about how arduous it may be to breathe underneath a terrorist regime’s authorities,’ he says.
‘LGBTIQ members should act regular in order that they don’t get us killed. Many people can’t even go outdoors.
‘Nobody actually is aware of what number of LGBTIQ members are being killed, abused, brain-washed, tortured, bullied or disowned each day by their households and the society.’
Jan says dozens of LGBTQ+ Afghans are arrested and questioned every day at Kabul and provincial safety zones. Some are kidnapped and killed.
‘All of the LGBTIQ-supporting governments and organizations have stopped their aids, reliefs and evacuation plans for us. We’re being forgotten and left to die silently,’ he provides.
Behesht Collective, which gives psychological well being help and shelter for LGBTQ+ youth, says the Taliban have ‘buried the aspirations of 1,250 LGBTQ+ Afghans’ who're members of the community — ‘lots of and 1000's’ stay caught.
‘LGBTQ+ individuals won't ever settle for Sharia Regulation as a result of Sharia Regulation is supposed to eradicate us,’ Behesht Collective says.
Sadat, of Roshaniya, feels it’s now or by no means to assist them escape.
‘If the world doesn’t intervene now to grant asylum safety now then I’m afraid that your entire LGBT+ neighborhood in Afghanistan will perish inside just a few years,’ Sadat says.
‘We can't let this occur.’
After Sabouri’s killing, Bahar left his dwelling as soon as once more, as he has finished so many instances now. He's homeless and unable to work due to the threats.
Bahar as soon as begged a person to offer him cash. The person, 60, proceeded to sexually assault him earlier than giving him 1,000 Afghanis (£10).
He's protected for now, he feels. Whether or not he shall be tomorrow, although, he can’t make sure.
Bahar discovered final month that Sabouri’s household has fled Afghanistan. He yearns for the day he can do the identical.
‘I do know I shall be killed,’ he says, ‘if I'm arrested once more, I shall be executed.’
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