Saudis Behead Gay Couple
365Gay.com,
March 14, 2005
RIYADH—A gay couple was beaded in
a public execution Sunday in Saudi Arabia after being convicted of killing a
blackmailer. If they had been exposed as gay they could have been executed
anyway.
Homosexuality is punishable by flogging, lengthy prison
terms or death under Sharia Islamic law.
The Saudi Interior Ministry issued a statement Sunday
announcing the execution. It said that Ahmed al-Enezi and Shahir al-Roubli,
both Saudis, ran over Malik Khan in their car, beat him on the head with
stones and set fire to his corpse “fearing they would be exposed after the
victim witnessed them in a shameful situation”.
The term “shameful situation” is regularly used by
the government to refer to homosexual acts.
The ministry said the two men were executed in the
northern town of Arar, near the Iraq border.
The Saudi government routinely rounds up people suspected
of being gay. All that is needed is a complaint from someone. In some
instances men who are not gay who have been arrested were picked up on the
complaint of a neighbor following a dispute.
The kingdom also, on a number of occasions, has blocked
access to the only gay Arab news and information site on the internet.
365Gay.com has also been blocked several times.
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