Gay Arab & Muslim Action & Support Group

Algeria is not a safe place for queers. Gay sex is totally illegal; punishable by up to two years' imprisonment. Arrest and torture by the police and military are ever-present dangers. The victims have no legal redress. This state–sanctioned homophobic persecution is compounded by the rise of an armed fundamentalist movement. Islamist terrorists target gays for beatings, torture and extra–judicial execution.

Algerian homosexuals are caught between the twin barbarisms of a totalitarian state and a clerical fascist opposition. Everyone is against us. Human rights groups in Algiers do nothing to defend 'sodomites'. In their view, there is no such thing as gay human rights.

My first experience of homophobic violence was when I was raped by a soldier at the age of 14. There was nothing I could do. I could not go to the police. They would have probably arrested and beaten me.

A decade later, I was beaten and threatened with death by Islamic fundamentalists. Two of my gay friends were murdered by them.

Gays are not the only victims. Some of my non–gay neighbours were also killed. People just disappear overnight; kidnapped by the police, army or Islamist terror groups. We never see them again. Thousands of people have disappeared and their families are still campaigning to discover their fate. This has been the state of terror in Algeria for more than a decade.

In addition to the dangers on account of my homosexuality, I could face up to five years in jail for evading the draft. I refused military service because I object to the way the armed forces abuse the civilian population and are involved in a dirty war against dissidents (including covert assassinations and bombings, which they then blame on the Islamists). I also object to the draft out of fear for my personal safety. Gay recruits are often queer–bashed and sexually abused. In Algerian civilian and military prisons, homophobic torture and rape are commonplace. I don't want to suffer that fate.

When I fled to Britain and claimed asylum in 2003, the Home Office acknowledged I could be jailed for a period of three months to five years for draft evasion. It also conceded: "In Algeria homosexuality is illegal and attitudes to homosexuality are not enlightened. It is therefore likely that homosexuals suffer discrimination, and on occasions are subjected to physical and verbal abuse by non–state agents as a result of their sexual orientation."

It shocked me when the Home Office nevertheless concluded: "You have not established a well–founded fear of persecution and you do not qualify for asylum."

I could now face deportation to Algeria. I live every day fearing arrest and forcible repatriation. If I was sent back, I could be jailed and tortured by the Algerian government — or be hunted down and murdered by the homophobic Islamists.

About 100,000 people have been killed by the fundamentalists (and another 50,000 by the Algerian police and army in their brutal attempts to crush the Islamist insurrection). The victims of the Islamists include women who refuse to be veiled, gay partners who violate the strict taboo on same–sex love, people who hold a liberal interpretation of the lslamic faith, and progressive students, intellectuals, journalists, lawyers, trade unionists and left–wing activists.

Those assassinated include feminist leader Nabila Diahnine and theatre director Abdelkader Alloula. Other victims include students and academics who refuse to study within a religious framework, and journalists who write the truth uncensored by clerical fanatics.

Islamist vigilantes have also targeted women who fail to conform to the Muslim tradition of subservience and modesty. Wives risk death if they go out to work, instead of staying at home and waiting on their husbands. Women are being killed for studying at university, wearing make–up or short skirts, and attending mixed schools or swimming pools. Any female behaviour deemed 'scandalous' by the militants can have lethal consequences, as 16–year old Katia Bengana discovered. She was shot dead on her way home from school for refusing to wear the hijab.

The goal of the Islamic fundamentalists in Algeria is the establishment of a religious state where every aspect of life is determined by the principles of the Koran and Muslim tradition. This means the enforcement of Sharia law, where apostates, queers and adulteresses are stoned to death.

The same repression exists, to varying degrees, throughout nearly all the Middle East. Wherever fundamentalist Islam has state power, democracy and human rights are crushed. There are no free elections or free press. Religious minorities are persecuted. Socialists and trade unionists are detained without trial, tortured and sometimes executed.

The repression is particularly intense against queers. Same–sex relations are punishable by death in eight Islamic nations, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Pakistan, northern Nigeria and Sudan (where the racist Islamic fundamentalist government is currently colluding with the massacre of black Africans in Darfur).

Even some of the more progressive Muslim societies are violently homophobic. The Palestinian Authority stands accused of unlawfully detaining and torturing gay and bisexual men. Hundreds of Palestinian gays have fled to Israel to escape murder by the fundamentalist group Hamas and the armed factions of the Palestine Liberation Organisation. The PLO was once committed to a democratic, secular state of Palestine. Now, in a bid to fend off the political challenge from Hamas, it is adopting an increasingly Islamist agenda. The losers are gays, women and liberal–minded Muslims.

For queers living anywhere in the Middle East and North Africa, danger, secrecy and fear are routine facts of life. The idea of being able to live and love openly is inconceivable. Our minds are constantly troubled by the possibility of discovery, blackmail, disinheritance and murder.

My personal struggle for freedom as a Muslim gay man began a long time ago. In 1994, at the beach, one of my gay friends was shot dead by Islamic fundamentalists from the Groupe Islamique Armé (GIA). This was the first time I realised that being gay in Algeria could well be a death sentence.

The same year, GIA militants came to my high school and warned us that education was unIslamic. They told us to stop studying. Girls who refused to wear the veil were threatened with death. We had to stay away from school for 15 days, until the police gave us armed protection.

In May 1996, the GIA bombed my street. Many people were killed, including a friend of mine who was hit by shrapnel from a van bomb. I was cut by flying glass. Our house was destroyed. I lost everything.

Around the same time, one of my gay friends, a neighbour, was snatched from his house by the GIA. We never saw him again. Local people praised the fundamentalists for 'purifying' society and getting rid of 'rubbish and perversion'. This made me realise that, as a gay man, I was someone whose very existence was vilified. It is a horrible feeling to live in a society where you have no place and where people like you are being killed without arousing any sympathy within your community.

Three years later, the GIA posted notices around my area, saying homosexuals would be killed. In 2000, many gay friends left Algeria, as they feared for their safety. This made me very scared. I, too, began to think of leaving.

The following year, I witnessed the stoning of two young men suspected of being gay. A neighbour started to beat them, and other neighbours joined in, pelting them with stones. One of the men was bleeding very badly. I dared not intervene. The crowd would have turned on me. This incident was very disturbing. If the mob had any suspicion I was gay, at that moment of hysteria I could easily have been stoned to death.

In February 2002 I heard about the police raiding a private gay party, after a neighbour's complaint. All the gays were arrested. Two were raped while in police custody. The others were severely beaten.

Later that year, I resumed a secret relationship with an ex–boyfriend. Since we lived with our families, the only place we could have sex was on a nearby building site. One night, we were discovered by a GIA terrorist. He produced a gun, and pushed and beat me, threatening: "You sexual deviants should be killed." I ran off. Luckily, I was near a police station; otherwise he probably would have shot me. But I could not go to the police because the police do not protect 'sodomites'.

Later, three men came looking for me at my house. They searched all the rooms. From my brother's description, one was probably the GIA terrorist who threatened to kill me.

I realised I was in serious danger from the Islamists. I also knew my military exemption was due to expire, and I would be forced to join the army, where gay conscripts suffer violent and sexual abuse.

In January 2003 the Military Police came to my house. They told my father I had to go to their headquarters, collect my papers, and join the army. That was the last straw. I knew I had to leave Algeria immediately.

I heard Algerians were being granted asylum in Britain. So I flew to Heathrow on 9 February 2003 and applied for asylum. I thought I would be greeted with sympathy and understanding. Instead, I was fingerprinted and photographed, like a common criminal. Since then, the Home Office has twice turned down my asylum claim. I feel betrayed and fearful.

Nevertheless, I am also enjoying the pleasure and relief of living openly as a gay man. For the first time in my life I have gained self–confidence and self–esteem. This would have been impossible if I had remained in Algeria. There are no gay organisations or support groups there. Gay people have no protection from arrest, torture and murder. I cannot believe a Labour Home Secretary expects me to give up my new–found freedom and to return to the homophobic hell of Algeria.

حقوق الإنسان والميول الجنسية وهوية نوع الجنس

لدى كل شخص ميول جنسية وهوية لنوعه جنسه . وعندما لا تتماشى الميول الجنسية أو هوية نوع الجنس لشخص ما مع أعراف الأغلبية، كثيراً ما يُنظر إليه كهدف مشروع للتمييز أو الإساءة. فينبغي أن يكون جميع الأشخاص قادرين على التمتع بحقوق الإنسان كافة الموصوفة في الإعلان العالمي لحقوق الإنسان. ومع ذلك فإن ملايين الأشخاص في شتى أنحاء العالم يواجهون الإعدام والسجن والتعذيب والعنف والتمييز بسبب ميولهم الجنسية أو هوية نوعهم الاجتماعي. ونطاق ما يتعرض له هؤلاء من انتهاكات غير محدود:

فتُغتصب النساء "لعلاجهن" من سحاقيتهن، وأحياناً بموافقة من الآباء والأمهات؛

ويُقاضى  الأشخاص بسبب علاقاتهم/علاقاتهن الخاصة التي تتم بالتراضي باعتبارهم خطراً اجتماعياً؛

ويفقد الاشخاص حقهم في الوصاية على أطفالهم؛

ويتعرضون للضرب على أيدي الشرطة؛

ويُهاجمون، وأحياناً يُقتلون، في الشوارع – ليصبحوا ضحايا لـ"جريمة كراهية"؛

ويتعرضون بصورة منتظمة للإساءة اللفظية؛

ويغدون ضحايا للتنمّر في المدرسة؛

ويحرمون من حق التوظيف والسكن أو الخدمات الصحية؛

ويُحرمون من حق اللجوء إذا ما حدث وتمكنوا من الهرب من الإساءات؛

ويتعرضون للاغتصاب أو للتعذيب عندما يحتجزون؛

ويُهددون عندما ينظِّمون تحركات من أجل حقوقهم الإنسانية

ويُعدمون على يد الدولة.

وتتضمن انتهاكات حقوق الإنسان بسبب الميول الجنسية أو هوية نوع الجنس انتهاك حقوق الطفل؛ وإنزال التعذيب والمعاملة القاسية واللاإنسانية والمهينة؛ والاحتجاز التعسفي بسبب الهوية أو المعتقدات؛ وتقييد حرية التجمع والحقوق الأساسية في الإجراءات القضائية الواجبة. وهذه انتهاكات ظلت لعقود من الزمن تشكل صلب أجندة القانون الدولي لحقوق الإنسان وماكينة الأمم المتحدة لحقوق الإنسان.

حقائق مهمة

الميول الجنسية تغطي الرغبات الجنسية والمشاعر والممارسات والهوية. ويمكن أن تكون الميول الجنسية نحو أشخاص من الجنس نفسه أو تجاه جنس مختلف (المثلية الجنسية، الغيرية الجنسية، أو الثنائية الجنسية). هوية نوع الجنس تشير إلى العلاقة المركبة بين الجنس والنوع الاجتماعي فيما يتعلق بتجربة الشخص في التعبير عن الذات بالعلاقة مع الفئتين الاجتماعيتين المتمثلتين بالذكورة والأنوثة (نوع الجنس). فقد تكون هوية نوع الجنس التي يشعر بها الشخص ذاتياً مختلفة عن جنسه أو خصائصه الفزيولوجية (البدنية). وتتباين التعابير المحددة التي يستخدمها البشر ويحددون من خلالها شؤون الميل الجنسي وهوية نوع الجنس إلى حد كبير بين ثقافة وأخرى. وتعتبر منظمة العفو الدولية أن الأشخاص الذين يعتقلون ويسجنون لسبب وحيد هو مثليتهم الجنسية – بما في ذلك أولئك الأشخاص الذين يضطهدون لممارستهم الجنس في ظروف ليس من شأنها أن تشكل فعلاً جنائياً بالنسبة لذوي الميول الجنسية الغيرية، أو بالنسبة لهوية نوع جنسهم – هم سجناء رأي وتدعو إلى الإفراج عنهم فوراً وبلا قيد أو شرط. وقد صدرت في مارس/آذار 2007 "مبادئ يوغياكارتا بشأن تطبيق القانون الدولي لحقوق الإنسان بالعلاقة مع الميول الجنسية وهوية نوع الجنس". وتُطبِّق هذه المبادئ - التي تم وضعت من قبل مجموعات من خبراء حقوق الإنسان، بمن فيهم عدة خبراء تابعين للأمم المتحدة (مقررين خاصين)، وأعضاء في اللجان الوطنية والإقليمية والدولية لحقوق الإنسان، والمفوض السامي للأمم المتحدة السابق لشؤون حقوق الإنسان -  القانون الدولي لحقوق الإنسان على الانتهاكات التي تتعرض لها السحاقيات والمثليون الجنسيون الذكور وذوو الميول الجنسية الثنائية والمتحولون إلى الجنس الآخر للتأكيد على شمول الجميع بالضمانات الحمائية لحقوق الإنسان.

وتدعو منظمة العفو الدولية إلى:

نزع الصفة الجرمية عن المثلية الجنسية في حال وجود تشريع من هذا القبيل. ويستدعي هذا مراجعة جميع التشريعات التي يمكن أن تؤدي إلى التمييز ضد الأشخاص ومقاضاتهم ومعاقبتهم لسبب وحيد هو ميولهم الجنسية أو هوية نوعهم االجنسي. ويشمل هذا قوانين "اللواط"  أو ما شابهها من أحكام تمنع العلاقات الجنسية بين أشخاص من الجنس نفسه أو مع أشخاص ثنائيي الهوية؛ والتشاريع المميِّزة فيما يتعلق بسن الإيجاب والقبول؛ وتشريعات النظام العام التي تُستخدم كذريعة لمقاضاة الأشخاص ومعاقبتهم لا لسبب إلا لميولهم الجنسية أو هوية نوعهم الاجتماعي؛ والقوانين التي تحظر "الترويج" للمثلية الجنسية التي يمكن أن تستخدم لحبس السحاقيات والمثليين الجنسيين الذكور وذوي الميول الجنسية الثنائية والمتحولين إلى الجنس الآخر والمدافعين عن حقوق الإنسان. فينبغي إلغاء جميع القوانين من هذا القبيل أو تعديلها. ومراجعة جميع التشريعات التي يمكن للدولة بمقتضاها قتل شخص ما، بما يهدف على نحو مباشر إلى التقييد المتزايد لنطاق تطبيق عقوبة الإعدام بحيث لا تطبق استناداً إلى تجريم الميول الجنسية أو هوية نوع الجنس، وبغرض إلغاء عقوبة الإعدام، وعقوبة الجَلد، وجميع الأشكال الأخرى للعقوبة البدنية في نهاية الأمر، وإلغاء جميع أشكال العقوبات القاسية واللاإنسانية والمهينة الأخرى في القانون. والإفراج الفوري وغير المشروط عن جميع سجناء الرأي ممن يحتجزون فحسب بسبب ميولهم الجنسية أو هوية نوع جنسهم الفعلي منها أو المفترض. وبالإضافة إلى ذلك، تدعو منظمة العفو الدولية الدول إلى:

ضمان مباشرة تحقيق سريع وغير متحيز في جميع مزاعم وتقارير انتهاكات حقوق الإنسان القائمة على الميول الجنسية أو هوية نوع الجنس للأشخاص، وتقديم من تثبت مسؤوليتهم من الجناة إلى العدالة؛

اتخاذ جميع التدابير التشريعية والإدارية وغيرها من التدابير الضرورية لحظر المعاملة القائمة على التحيز استناداً إلى الميول الجنسية أو هوية النوع الاجتماعي واجتثاث هذه المعاملة في جميع مراجل إدارة العدالة؛

وضع حد للتمييز في قوانين الزواج المدني القائم استناداً إلى الميول الجنسية أو هوية نوع الجنس، والاعتراف بالخيارات العائلية بغض النظر عن نوع الجنس عند الضرورة؛

A motion to give legal recognition to people who are persecuted because of their sexual orientation has been roundly rejected by the House of Representatives.

The government argued that homosexuals were adequately protected by current asylum laws as members of a “particular social group”, reflecting the view of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights(UNHCR).

Wednesday’s defeat – by 125 votes to 64 – came a day after Amnesty International handed in a petition to the Federal Chancellery calling for the Swiss legal definition of “refugee” to be widened. “We really regret that this has been rejected because it would have been a better solution for persecuted people,” Denise Graf, refugee coordinator at the human rights organisation’s Swiss section, told swissinfo.ch. “Currently asylum law says authorities have to consider the special situation of women. We said they should have to consider the special situation of women and people who have been persecuted for their sexual orientation or sexual identity.” Amnesty pointed out that homosexual acts are still illegal in 85 countries – predominantly Muslim and African ones, although also several parts of the United States – and punishable by death in Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen. In many other parts of the world people sit in prison because of their actual or presumed sexuality, it added. Homosexuality was legalised in Switzerland in 1942. Amnesty said that without legal recognition of this specific form of persecution, there was a danger that Switzerland would continue to turn away asylum seekers – even if they would then face prison, torture and death. Graf said a few cases existed of people being granted asylum in Switzerland because of their sexual orientation, “but hardly any”. “A study published in the specialist journal Asylum in 2007 said that between 1993 and 2005… out of 90 cases, four got asylum,” she said.

Increasing claims

The persecution of people because of their sexual orientation and gender identity is not a new phenomenon, the UNHCR noted in a report published in November 2008. But it acknowledged that only recently had a growing number of asylum claims been made by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals. The paper concluded that “international and national developments in sexual orientation case law clearly show that LGBT persons may be recognised as a ‘particular social group’ and, as such, are entitled to protection under the 1951 Convention” [see box]. Non-governmental organisations have never been so vocal on this issue. In 2009, Human Rights Watch released a report entitled “They Want Us Exterminated; Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation and Gender in Iraq”.

" Switzerland would turn into an island of allegedly persecuted homosexuals. " Hans Fehr

“Not enough awareness”

The cabinet had recommended that Wednesday’s motion, put forward by Green parliamentarian Katharina Prelicz-Huber, be rejected, arguing that the current laws were adequate. “They say that the refugee definition covers the possibility to grant asylum for people who belong to a special social group. This is also the position of the UNHCR,” Graf said. For example in February the government said it would admit two Guantanamo prisoners – Uighurs from the Chinese province of Xinjiang – on humanitarian grounds. Switzerland had already accepted one Guantanamo inmate, an Uzbek who arrived in January and is now residing in Geneva. “But we believe there isn’t enough awareness inside the Migration Office or the appeal instance inside the Federal Administrative Court. We are convinced that introducing this explicitly into law would really result in more training and awareness about the situation of homosexuals,” she said.

Gay wave?

The centre-left Social Democratic Party was the only one of Switzerland’s four main parties to back the motion. “To be able to live one’s sexual orientation free of danger is a fundamental part of personal freedom and therefore a justified reason for asylum,” said Margret Kiener Nellen, co-president of the party’s commission for sexual orientation and identity. But Hans Fehr from the rightwing Swiss People’s Party feared there was “massive potential for abuse” as a result of a lack of controls. “Hundreds of thousands of people could stream into the country and Switzerland would turn into an island of allegedly persecuted homosexuals,” he said. “That’s ridiculous!” Graf told swissinfo.ch. “Every case is examined individually and this wouldn’t change if we amended the law. There was a change for women and we didn’t have hundreds and thousands of women looking for asylum in Switzerland.”

Legal struggle

Few years ago men in Moroccan big cities, mainly touristic, started discovering their sexuality identifying themselves as homosexual. Indeed it is the discovery of ‘woman in man’s body’. Then Homosexual communities and networks started to emerge in modern cities benefiting from the creation of virtual network by means of the World Wide Web to prepare their physical manifestation. Their relative visibility, either virtual or physical entails an emergence of a common subculture between the homophile communities that provides a background of confidence in moving towards the fights for their rights to equalities. What is problematic with the Moroccan homosexuals is that they are a copycat model of Western same sex movement disregarding the mapping of social context they operate in. First and foremost, the majority of Moroccans are Muslims and any stepping towards politicising the sex liberation   will certainly conclude in the media raising the moral panic since sexuality is its fertile source. Knowing that at the societal level, homosexuality is a threat to the institutional security of the heterosexual family and also it is a threat to masculinity at the individual level, recently homophiles increased their demands for equivalent legal status as visibility in public spaces and the right to establish their own associations and events. It is in fact an examination of the sexual rights known as ‘sexual citizenship’. The emergence of a Kif Kif gay association in 2004 in Morocco bears more thematic weight on the dimension of the generic of the homosexual group. For instance, Kif Kif’s attempt last year to organise a seminar about “Gender and Sexuality,” refers to minoritizing the gender group to formulate a collective identity and move to universalizing strategies between fixing homosexuals as a stable minority group. It is obvious that the association is feeding its doctrine with gay movement literature in Western countries. The member of this pervert community sought to mark a transitional stage from the sexual liberation to questioning their right to equalities as even the name Kif Kif stands for. It is about the liberation of sexual insight framed under a political umbrella as a matter of fact. The change is an emphasize of the shift from homosexual activity to homosexual identity. This change means getting into a community to overcome an extreme social disapproval and reconstruct the ‘Self’ identity while denying the panoptical surveillance of the labeling Otherness. In other words, homosexuals try to establish a positive sense of ‘them’ in order to negotiate the potentials of the social identity. In short, it is the construction of the Other and living with a social identity. Accordingly, homophiles in Morocco are making their own history by the shift from the focus on sexual liberation to maintain a discursive power on the mainstream.  This is a clear cut point found in the homosexuals gathering during the annual ritual celebration of Sidi Ali Ben Hamdouch in Meknes in addition to the Kif Kif association with its virtual website gaymaroc . However the premise of their mobility can be conceptualized in the promise of the British gay pop star Elton John to meet the Moroccan gays during the ‘Mawazine 2010’ music festival in Rabat. So this is how the ‘Gay’ in Morocco is used to replace ‘homosexual’ as a signifier of wider political interest than simply a liberation of sexuality, while noting that Elton John’s visit to Moroccan gays serves as a central cohesive source of the campaign to ‘come out’ in the gay world after they came out to themselves, then to be followed by coming out to friends and relatives and at last coming out in the straight world; applying the    Kennet Plummer stages process of ‘coming out’. Notwithstanding the powerful resistance by the gay community in Morocco, their charisma to build up ‘pull’ factors to attract more members to ‘come out’  to their community remains fallible due to the uncertainty to distinguish who is homosexual and who is gay bearing in mind the tough character of religious and social  mapping of the sexual geography . To explain this point further, it is best looking at Plummer classification of homosexuality in Western cultures: 1.    Casual homosexuality :it does not substantially structure the overall sexual life of the individual and this can be exemplified in  schoolboys crushes or mutual masturbation 2.    Homosexuality as a situated activity : circumstances in which activities are regular, but do not become an individual’s overriding preference mainly in prisons , boarding schools and Military camps 3.    Personalised homosexuality : individuals who have a preference for homosexual activity but hide it from colleagues and friends 4.    Homosexuality as a way of life: refers to individuals who have ‘come out’ and have key associations with others in gay subculture as Kif Kif. Indeed, there is another category which the sociologist, Plummer, has missed and it is quite common in Morocco which can be tagged as: financial homosexuality. This criterion is framed in sexual tourism in particular in big cities as Marrakech and Agadir where young unemployed Moroccans forced by the hardship of life to seek homophile tourists for sodomitic relationship in return for money. Finally, while the first gay community strives to formulate their ‘sexual citizenship’, we may now be seeing an emergence of a second group of bisexuals or transsexuals.

By Rachid ChelouahSource:

PRESIDENT of the Islamic Council of Jamaica, Mustafa Muhammad, says he agrees with the Sharia law which prescribes death for people who openly flaunt homosexual behaviour.

Muhammad did not mince words as he lashed out against what he described as an unclean, unnatural lifestyle.

“It is illegal and in the Sharia law the punishment is death. If you follow Christianity it is a crime in the sight of God. He destroyed a whole city because of this thing. It is an ungodly practice and I apologise to no one for this,” Muhammad said.

Under Jamaican law, persons who practice buggery — the sexual penetration of the anus — can be sent to prison for up to 10 years.

Despite claims by local and international gay lobbyists that homosexuals are attacked and killed in Jamaica, police statistics show that most gays who are killed are victims of crimes of passion.

Muhammad made sure to state that he was against the killing of gays in Jamaica.

“This can only be done in a country that is being run by Islam,” he said.

Muhammad was also critical of the gay lobbyists who are clamouring for Jamaicans to adopt a more relaxed attitude towards homosexuality.

“What is happening is that we are leaning towards the laws of man,” he said. “If a Muslim woman chooses to cover up herself it is seen as oppressive, but it is wicked to criticise homosexuals? I am not free to express myself as a Muslim but a homosexual is allowed free expression and protection from the law.”

The Sharia Law is interpreted differently in some Muslim jurisdictions and in some countries women are subjected to what western cultures describe as oppressive treatment.

Some Muslim cultures deny women education and enforce female circumcision, but Muhammad explained that this was not in keeping with the true teachings of the Prophet Mohammed and the Sharia Law, but should be attributed to cultural practices.

“Of course women must be allowed education. The Koran says every Muslim must seek knowledge. If there is a Muslim who denies a woman education, then it is not acceptable,” he told the Observer. “Female circumcision has been around for thousands of years and a lot of people come into Islam with this culture. It is very important that we separate the teaching of Islam from the culture of the people.”

Bangkok, Thailand

In a rerun of a highly polarizing 1998 case, Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim,will stand trial Wednesday on a charge of sodomy that, if proven, could sink his resurgent political career.

The trial in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, is shaping up as a test of the independence of Malaysia’s judiciary, which has been dogged by scandals over influence-peddling and political interference.

Mr. Anwar, who was jailed for a sodomy conviction that was overturned in 2004, says that his accuser, a former aide, is part of a political conspiracy. At a pretrial hearing Tuesday, he told reporters that he would subpoena Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife, whom he accuses of cooking up the charge, to testify in court.

Homosexuality is illegal in Malaysia, a majority-Muslim country that has struggled in recent years with interfaith tensions. Last month, churches and mosques were attacked in a furor over the use of ‘Allah’ by a Christian newspaper, which some Muslims say infringes on their rights. Sodomy is punishable by up to 20 years in jail.

Mr. Najib took power last April and has sought to shore up a shaky ruling coalition in the face of Anwar’s opposition movement. He has denied being behind the sodomy accusation, which was lodged in 2008 just as Anwar was preparing a successful run for parliament after a court-ordered ban expired.

But there seems little doubt that ‘Sodomy 2’, as Malaysian media have dubbed the trial, plays directly into the rivalry between the two politicians, who were colleagues in the ruling coalition before Anwar’s fall from glory and subsequent jailing.

“It’s clearly an attempt to weaken the opposition leader in a political maneuver. There’s no getting around it,” says Bridget Welsh, associate professor of political science at Singapore Management University.

The 1998 trial followed the sacking of Anwar, then deputy prime minister, by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. It was widely seen as a plot by Mr. Mahathir to destroy Anwar’s career and drew foreign criticism as a show trial. Vice President Al Gore said it “mocked international standards of justice.”

Critics say court is biased

In pre-trial hearings, Anwar’s lawyers have sparred with judges over the sharing of prosecution evidence, including medical records of the accuser. Critics have derided the court as biased and pointed out that the current Attorney General Gani Patail was found to have fabricated evidence in the 1998 case. But it’s too soon to assess the court’s ability to handle the controversial case, says Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, a civil rights lawyer in Kuala Lumpur, who is aligned with the political opposition. “In 1998 you could say quite safely that we had a judiciary that was extremely responsive to executive dictates. The judiciary right now … do not seem to be as much under the thumb as they used to be,” he says.

New Delhi: Giving a secular touch to the issue, the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board joined Hindu outfits and leaders on Monday in challenging the Delhi high court’s verdict allowing consensual sex between adult gay or lesbian couples.

Yoga guru Baba Ramdev, astrologer Suresh Kaushal and BP Singhal, a BJP MP, have already moved the Supreme Court (SC) against the judgment. The Muslim body’s petition says, “Decriminalising homosexuality poses a threat to Indian society and culture.” Ramdev pleads, “Legalising gay sex would have a catastrophic effect on society’s moral fabric,” while Kaushal says, “Even animals don’t indulge in such sexual acts that are in conflict with the nature.”

SC has already issued notices on the pending petitions and the government has said it would not oppose the law laid down by HC. Law minister M Veerappa Moily said, “If it [section 377 IPC] has been misused earlier, it can be misused in future as well. Any law should not be used as an instrument of exploitation, harassment or allow the authority to misuse it. This is one such provision that has a tendency of misuse, and has been misused.

“I must tell the judges, the subject may be difficult, but at the same time, this is one judgement which has really stood out in the judicial annals of this country.”

Attorney general Goolam E Vahanvati will assist the apex court in examining the HC judgment that held that “criminalisation of gay sex among consenting adults violated fundamental rights”.

ISTANBUL — For Ahmet Yildiz, a stocky and affable 26-year-old, the choice to live openly as a gay man proved deadly. Prosecutors say his own father hunted him down, traveling more than 600 miles from his hometown to shoot his son in an old neighborhood of Istanbul.

Mr. Yildiz was killed 16 months ago, the victim of what sociologists say is the first gay honor killing in Turkey to surface publicly. He was shot five times as he left his apartment to buy ice cream. A witness said dozens of neighbors watched the killing from their windows, but refused to come forward. His body remained unclaimed by his family, a grievous fate under Muslim custom.

His father, Yahya Yildiz, whose trial in absentia began in September, is on the run and believed to be hiding in northern Iraq.

The case, which has caused a bout of national soul-searching, has underlined the tensions between the secular modern Turkey of cross-dressing pop stars and a more traditionalist Turkey, in which conservative Islam increasingly holds sway.

Ahmet Kaya, Ahmet Yildiz’s cousin, said Mr. Yildiz was the only son of a deeply religious and wealthy Kurdish family from Sanliurfa, in the predominantly Kurdish southeast.

Mr. Kaya said Mr. Yildiz, a straight-A physics student who had hoped to become a teacher, was tutoring fellow students so he could make extra money to live independently. But by coming out as gay in a patriarchal tribal family, he had become the ultimate affront to both religious and filial honor, even with parents who adored him.

“Ahmet’s father had warned him to return to their village and to see a doctor and imam in order to cure him of his homosexuality and get married, but Ahmet refused,” Mr. Kaya said. “Ahmet loved his family more than anything else and he was tortured about disappointing them. But in the end, he decided to be who he was.”

That clash of values permeates Turkish society. While Turkey’s aspiration to join theEuropean Union is pushing the Muslim-inspired government to accept and even promote civil liberties for women and homosexuals, some traditionalists remain ill at ease with a permissive attitude toward sexuality and gender roles.

Until recently, so-called honor killings have been largely confined to women, who face being killed by male relatives for perceived grievances ranging from consensual sex outside of marriage to stealing a glance at a boy. A recent government survey estimated that one person dies every week in Istanbul as a result of honor killings, while the United Nations estimates the practice globally claims as many as 5,000 lives a year. In Turkey, relatives convicted in such killings are subject to life sentences.

A sociologist who studies honor killings, Mazhar Bagli, at Dicle University in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the southeast, noted that tribal Kurdish families that kill daughters perceived to have dishonored them publicize the murders to help cleanse their shame.

But he said gay honor killings remained underground because a homosexual not only brought shame to his family, but also tainted the concept of male identity upon which the community’s social structure depended.

“Until now, gay honor killings have been invisible because homosexuality is taboo,” he said.

Gay rights groups argue that there is an increasingly open homophobia in Turkey. The military, which is the guardian of Turkey’s secular state, regards homosexuality as a disorder.

Last year, a local Istanbul court ruled in favor of disbanding the offices of Lambda, the country’s leading gay rights group, after a complaint that it offended public morality. (The decision was later overturned by a higher court.)

Firat Soyle, a human rights lawyer for Lambda, who was advising Mr. Yildiz before his death, said that three months before the murder, Mr. Yildiz had filed a complaint at the local prosecutor’s office that he was receiving death threats from his family. Mr. Soyle said the prosecutor’s office had refused to investigate or provide Mr. Yildiz with protection. The local police and prosecutors declined to comment on the allegation because the case was continuing.

The murder has divided Mr. Yildiz’s neighbors in Uskudar, an old Ottoman district on the Bosporus in Istanbul where secular and religious Turks live side by side.

Ummuhan Darama, a neighbor of Mr. Yildiz, was shot in the ankle during the attack and has filed criminal charges against his father. She said that the police had visited her in the hospital after the episode, urging her to drop the charges and to avoid becoming involved in what they called a “dirty crime.”

Ms. Darama, a religious Muslim who wears a gold satin head scarf, said she was the only one among her neighbors willing to testify.

“The police and local religious officials are trying to protect the killer because they think homosexuality is a sin,” she said. “But in Islam killing is an even bigger sin, and no one but Allah has the right to decide between life and death. Ahmet was a nice, gentle boy and he didn’t deserve to die.”

But Kemal, 55, a Kurdish man newly arrived to the district from the southeast who declined to give his last name, said he would disown his son if he found out he was gay. “I would kick him out of the house and he would no longer be my son,” he said, fingering his prayer beads.

Even as some gay groups have sought to blame encroaching Islamic conservatism for Mr. Yildiz’s death, others argue that Turkish society is actually becoming more sexually liberated. Nilufer Narli, a sociologist who has studied gender issues, noted that gay clubs and gay bars have proliferated in big cities like Istanbul. She said homosexuality in Turkey had been tolerated since Ottoman times.

One of Turkey’s most celebrated singers is Bulent Ersoy, a transsexual, who was banned by the military government in the 1980s but has since become more popular as a woman than she was as a man.

“It is a cliché that Turkey is homophobic,” Ms. Narli said. “There has been a rise in religious conservatism, but at the same time, because of globalization, people are more accepting now of different values than they have ever been.”

That acceptance, however, has not always filtered down to Turkey’s religious heartland, with sometimes deadly consequences.

Didar Erdal, a 23-year-old gay man from Mr. Yildiz’s hometown, recently fled Istanbul for the Netherlands out of fear that his own family was hunting him.

Mr. Erdal said his family had learned he was gay last month after he applied for an exemption from military service on the grounds of his sexuality. He said his father had gone “crazy” and ordered him home, where the tribe’s elders would decide his fate.

“I know all too well,” Mr. Erdal said, “what the tradition demands must happen to me.”

Ahmed Marcouch, the Muslim mayor of Slotervaart, an uncharacteristically conservative suburb of Amsterdam, is fighting back against a long-lived trend of homophobia in that town by inviting Amsterdam's annual gay pride parade to march right down main street, as it were.According to AFP: Slotervaart's population is mainly of immigrant origin, many of the Muslim faith, like Moroccan-born Marcouch himself who came to the Netherlands in 1979 at age 10. The suburb has recently been in the news for homophobic incidents, with gays being called names, spat on and generally bothered. The community grew particularly restless over gay men using Slotervaart's De Oeverlanden public park as a place to meet and have sex, a practice known as "cruising". Following Marcouch breaking the ice, the town has now instituted further plans to accept previously persecuted gay community, such as with the opening of a gay culture center, AFP reports. However, Marcouch's actions have also drawn strong rebukes, namely from local religious leaders such as Mohamed Adardour of the el-Oumma mosque and the local Roman Catholic parish.

Pav Akhtar is not usually a fan of soaps. But the 30-year-old local councillor and Unison worker has been paying special attention sinceEastEnders introduced its first gay Muslim character. Akhtar, the chair of Imaan, an organisation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Muslims, advised the BBC on the storyline in the hope that the character of Syed Masood would help tackle the double discrimination of homophobia and Islamophobia that many gay Muslims face.

The Muslim theologian Amanullah De Sondy said recently that the vast majority of Muslims were "deeply homophobic", and a survey carried out this summer among British Muslims reported that 0% of those questioned thought homosexuality was "morally acceptable". Yet, so far, the taboo-busting EastEnders storyline has not sparked the expected deluge of complaints – in fact, the soap's first gay Muslim kiss attracted a healthy 7.9 million viewers. But what is it like being gay and Muslim in the UK today?

Javaid, 34

It's good that a soap opera is tackling this. The EastEnders storyline may cause a bit of outrage, but anything that gets people talking can only be a good thing. I don't think we should sweep everything under the carpet – people should be challenged. My family are liberal Muslims and I think coming out to them has been no different than if I was Jewish or Christian. But although I am out to my immediate family, I'm not out to my community, so I don't want to identify myself fully. I couldn't reconcile my sexuality with their teachings, and so I lost my faith.

I was religious up to my mid-teens, but once I started to understand my sexuality, I became confused. My understanding was that in Islamhomosexuality was seen in the same way as adultery. That sends a message that being gay is something to be ashamed of and not socially acceptable. It was really upsetting and I would pray to Allah to turn me straight. At that point, if I could have done anything to make myself straight I would have done.

When my parents found out, my father did not really understand. But he tried hard to learn. The debate about lowering the age of consent was going on at the time, and he would cut out articles and videotape TV programmes to show me when I came home. He even went to a gay bookshop and bought a book about being the parent of a gay son. It really meant a lot to me. My mum was very different. She is a practising Muslim and has been to hajj twice. She cried for about three days when I told her. That was 15 years ago and I still can't talk to her openly about it. I want to, but I can't do it yet.

Farzana Fiaz, 37 Journalist

I don't know about this report that said 0% of British Muslims believed being gay was acceptable. That has not been my experience or the experience of my friends. But I think Muslims do find the concept of having an identity based around sexuality an alien concept. I'm out to all of my friends and most people who know me, but despite being chair of an organisation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Muslims, I have never identified myself in interviews before because I have tried to be respectful of my family's religious and cultural sensibilities. But recently I was outed by a relative to family members both in the UK and in Pakistan. Now I realise I don't want to give anyone that kind of power over me again.

I was brought up with a narrow interpretation of Islam from a traditional, working-class Pakistani perspective and believed, like everyone else, that being gay was wrong. I suppose this is still the dominant Muslim interpretation, but it's not the only one. It was a very difficult time when I realised I was mostly gay in my early 20s; that it wasn't just a passing phase. I had something of a nervous breakdown: I couldn't stop crying for days, I had nightmares, I couldn't sleep alone, I thought I was going to hell for feeling the way I did. I didn't know any gay Muslims, or gay Asians even, so I couldn't discuss the religious side with anyone.

Eventually I saw a meeting advertised in the Pink Paper looking for gay Muslims for a support group. Through Imaan, I listened to scholars and open-minded imams, and discovered that, like many things in the Qu'ran, there can be different interpretations about homosexuality.

When an Arabic paper picked up the story of our first conference, an extremist group issued a fatwa against us. The police sent 40 riot officers to protect us. After 9/11, we experienced Islamophobia including from within the gay community – at Gay Pride, some of the crowd heckled us, and even a Pride steward referred to us as terrorists. True, most of the threats we had at Imaan came from Muslims, but they were also more generally from men.

I started telling my mum I was gay about 10 years ago. It took her about 10 years to accept and I'd have to reiterate it when the issue of marriage came up. When I told her the truth, she told me to pray and ask God to forgive me, but she would never disown me. Now she says maybe I know more about it – she left school at 16 in Pakistan, while I studied Arabic at university and researched the subject a lot, so she does take my opinion seriously.

Ibrahim, 40s Charity worker

I think things are getting worse for gay Muslims because of the more extreme interpretations of Islam around today. The Muslim community is more homophobic – at least towards those who are out and comfortable. People have become brainwashed and no longer want to think about the true meaning of Islam.

I've seen Muslim men sent to the US for electric shock treatment to "cure" them of their homosexuality; I know of gay men who have been murdered in "honour killings" – in fact, the police often contact our sexual health organisation if there is an unexplained death of a young Muslim man to check if he is on our database. I have even heard parents tell their children they would rather they were suicide bombers than gay.

Because of this attitude there are lots of men who outwardly lead an Islamic lifestyle, who are married and go to prayers on a Friday, but then go and pick up men for sex. They don't see that they're gay. I've worked with rabbis and imams and the one thing they agree on is that gay men should either marry women or abstain. But abstinence is not an option to most human beings and I always ask, "Would you marry your daughter to someone you knew was gay? Do you think they would be happy with him?" The nikah (Islamic marriage service) is not gender-specific, so why not just let gay Muslim men marry each other?

Many Muslims think gay culture is about promiscuous sex, drugs and drinking. But being a gay Muslim can mean committing to one relationship. If gay Muslims marry each other, it would discourage double lives and promiscuity. The imams I have said this to agree with me, but say they can't say that in public.

My family know I'm gay; we don't talk about it, but they have always known – probably before I did. My mother told me to be myself. But I was bullied very badly at school. It was continuous – homophobic and racist – and it stopped me completing my education. I used to pray to Allah to ask him to make me straight; I even visited the shrines of Sufi saints. Then I spoke to scholars, imams and academics and I learned that there's no word for homosexuality in the Qur'an, but it does teach you to respect the diversity in the world and be honest – which is what I am doing. So now I'm looking for a partner for life, who will accept me and my religion.

Pav Akhtar, 30, Union worker and local councillor

I really welcome the gay character in EastEnders because I want people to engage in the discussion. The Masoods are brilliant – even if they are caricatures, like all other soap opera characters.

I grew up in a household where no sexuality was discussed – it didn't exist. That's true of many British Asian families. You feel like you're not supposed to have any sexual feelings – we had to switch channels if anyone was kissing on TV. It was a working-class Asian family, and I went to the mosque five times a week and was very attached to my faith.

My sisters and brothers are very supportive – I took my partner to Pakistan to visit my family there last year, and that was fine. My mother knows, but I have never actually discussed it with her, although I have introduced her to my "friends". With parents it's not just a cultural taboo, but their concern that without marriage and a family you will be alone.

A video documenting Moroccan LGBT life.