The Islamic State And Homosexuality

NEW DELHI: Gruesome images -- appearing to show a man charged with g a homosexual affair being stoned to death after he survived being thrown off a building by Islamic State militants -- have emerged online.

According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the man in question was killed in the city of Raqqa, Syria, last month. The pictures of his death have subsequently been posted online by Islamic State militants and their followers.

One of the images shows a blindfolded man sitting on a plastic chair, surrounded by two militants clad in black. Another image appears to show the man falling from a building. Yet another image shows the man’s body on the ground, with a crowd gathered around, and stones being pelted.

(The images above appears to suggest that the man was stoned to death after being thrown off the building).

The militants allegedly read out a “judgement” before carrying out the sentence -- that specifically called for the man to be thrown off the highest point in the city for being gay.

The group seems to have used this brutal execution method on numerous occasions as a punishment for homosexuality. A few weeks ago, in a spate of online activity, images appeared that seemed to show Islamic State militants throwing men accused of being gay off towers, stoning a woman accused of adultery and crucifying at least 17 young men in a 48-hour period.

The images were attributed to to the “Information Office of the mandate of Nineveh”, a city in Iraq and claimed to show Islamic State militants carrying out “hudud” -- the system of fixed punishments for what the group’s courts regard as serious crimes.

(An earlier image that appeared to show men being pushed off, as a large crowd controlled by militants watches on from below).

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the latest flurry of public executions followed a string of recent assassination attempts targeting the militant group. According to the monitoring group, the crucification of 17 young men in the space of 48 hours was in relation for the deaths of 12 Syrian, Iraqi and Algerian jihadists. “Isis is sending a message to all people living under its control, to say: 'This is what will happen to any opponent,” the IB Times quoted a spokesperson from the Observatory as saying.

The Observatory reports the extremist group has executed 35 people in January alone in Syria, including 22 civilians.

The executions coincide with the release of a penal code listing crimes punishable by amputation, stoning and crucifixion -- applicable to areas under the Islamic State’s control. Included among crimes punishable by death are homosexuality and “spying for unbelievers.”

According to a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute, the acts listed and their respective punishments are:

Blasphemy against Allah: Death
Blasphemy against the Prophet Mohamed: Death – even if the accuser repents
Blasphemy against Islam: Death
Adultery: Stoning until death in case the adulterer was married and 100 lashes and exile if he or she were unmarried.
Sodomy (homosexuality): Death for the person committing the act, as well as for the one receiving it.
Theft: Cutting off the hand
Drinking alcohol: 80 lashes
Slandering: 80 lashes
Spying for the unbelievers: Death
Apostasy: Death
Banditry: 1: Murder and stealing: Death and crucifixion
2: Murder only: Death
3: Stealing (as part of banditry): Cutting off the right hand and the left leg
4: Terrorizing people: Exile