A radical muslim wants to kill gays and other lgbtq

He asked one of the men if he was satisfied with the sentence. Death, the judge told him, would help cleanse him of his sin. The second man, year-old Mohammed Salameh, pleaded for a chance to repent, promising never to have sex with a man again, according to a witness among the onlookers that sunny July morning who gave The Associated Press a rare first-hand account.

Other masked extremists tied the men's hands behind their backs and blindfolded them. They led them to the roof of the four-story hotel, according to the witness, who spoke in the Turkish city of Reyhanli on condition he be identified only by his first name, Omar, for fear of reprisals.

Notorious for their gruesome methods of killing, ISIS reserves one of its most brutal for suspected homosexuals. Videos it has released show masked militants dangling men over the precipices of buildings by their legs to drop them head-first or tossing them over the edge.

The fear of a horrific death among gay men under ISIS rule is further compounded by their isolation in a deeply conservative society that largely shuns them. Many Muslims consider homosexuality to be sinful. Gay men are haunted constantly by the possibility that someone, perhaps even a relative, will betray them to the militants - whether to curry favor with ISIS or simply out of hatred for their sexual orientation.

ISIS fighters sometimes torture suspected homosexuals to reveal their friends' names and search their laptops and mobile phones. Even among ISIS opponents, gays find little sympathy. Some in the public who might be shocked by other ISIS atrocities say killings of gays is justified.

Syrian rebel factions have killed or abused gays as well. A year-old Syrian gay man told the AP that even two years after fleeing to Turkey, he wakes up shaken by nightmares that he is about to be hurled from a building. The man spoke on condition that he be identified as Daniel Halaby, the name he now uses in his activism tracking ISIS atrocities, and that the city in Turkey where he lives not be named for his own safety.

Halaby says a childhood friend who became radicalized and joined ISIS betrayed him to the militants inforcing him to flee his home city of Aleppo. It didn't yet hold the large stretches of territory across both countries that it would capture the next year.

Instead, its fighters pushed into rebel-held areas in Syria and tried to dominate other rebels, often clashing with them for control and imposing the group's strict law wherever they could. The two sides negotiated over an end to the siege and, during the talks, ISIS gave the rebels a list of people they demanded be handed over to them.

Halaby said he learned his name was on that list. There, his bedroom is decorated with a flag of the Syrian opposition and a rainbow banner that covers an entire wall.

Inside look at ISIS' brutal persecution of gays

His parents, who remain in Aleppo, refuse to talk to him because of his sexual orientation. When he watches videos of gays being killed, he said, "What breaks my heart most is that I feel helpless. Life for gays in Aleppo, Syria's biggest city, was always hidden, Halaby said.

When the secular-led peaceful protests erupted against President Bashar Assad inhe said he quickly joined, sure they would lead to a democratic government "that will respect everyone no matter their religion, ethnicity, sect or sexuality. Subhi Nahas, a year-old gay Syrian who now lives in San Francisco, said he fled because he feared his own father might turn him in to al Qaeda's affiliate, the Nusra Front, which also has targeted homosexuals.

When his father learned he was gay, Nahas said he called him a shame to the family and beat him. Around the same time, in lateNusra fighters launched a crackdown on suspected gays in Nahas' hometown of Maaret al-Numan, detaining 25 men and announcing through mosque loudspeakers that they would cleanse the town of homosexuals.

So he fled, first to Lebanon, then Turkey. Fearful that he wouldn't be safe even in Turkey, he legally resettled to the United States in June. In August, Nahas and a gay Iraqi man spoke about the suffering of homosexuals in their countries at the first-ever U. Security Council session spotlighting violence and discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people.

The stigma surrounding homosexuality makes it difficult to document ISIS killings and identify victims, rights groups say.