Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in late August, persecution of the country’s LGBT+ community has intensified, forcing many to live in hiding, fearing for their lives.
Taliban have a kill list for Afghanistan’s LGBT community, says NGO
“We now know for certain that the Taliban have a ‘kill list,'” said the director of Rainbow Railroad, a Canadian NGO that helps threatened Afghans flee into exile.
The situation for the LGBT+ community in Afghanistan has never been easy. Same-sex relationships have always been taboo in the Muslim-majority country, where, even under the former Western-backed government, non-heterosexual relationships were illegal and could lead to up to two years in prison.
But since the Taliban came to power after the U.S. military withdrawal on Aug. 30, the situation has deteriorated rapidly.
Although the militant group has not yet officially said how it plans to deal with acts of homosexuality, reports increasingly suggest that the Taliban are applying a strict interpretation of Sharia law, under which same-sex relations can be punishable by death.
“This is a really scary time to be in Afghanistan,” , Rainbow Railroad executive director Kimahli Powell, the only international LGBT+ organization on the ground in Afghanistan, told FRANCE 24 in a telephone interview.
“We now know for certain that the Taliban have a ‘kill list’ circulating, which identifies LBTQI+ people.”
According to Powell, the Taliban most likely took advantage of the power vacuum that took place in the days and weeks leading up to the U.S. withdrawal deadline to compile these “kill lists,” paying particular attention to the names of individuals whom foreign rights groups were trying to evacuate.
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