A local rights group said Thursday that the body of a gay Syrian man was found mutilated and beheaded two days after he had gone missing in central Istanbul, AFP reported.
Muhammed Wisam Sankari, a refugee who had come to Turkey from Syria, went missing July 23 after leaving his home in the Fatih neighborhood of Istanbul, LGBT rights group Kaos Gay and Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Association (Kaos GL) said on Wednesday.
Sankari had fled the war in Syria, but feared for his life in Turkey after being threatened by armed gangs who said they wanted to rape him, his friends told Kaos GL.
One of Sankari's friends who identified the body said he was so badly mutilated he was recognizable only by his clothing.
“They cut Wisam violently. It was so violent, two knives had broken inside of him. They beheaded him. His upper body was beyond recognition, his internal organs were out. We recognized our friend from his trousers," they told the rights group.
One of his housemates, Rayan, said Sankari had also been previously kidnapped and raped five months before his death.
Rayan added that they had previously been forced to leave a house because they were gay.
