Islamic State claims to kill 30 for sodomy, UN meeting told
UNITED NATIONS - The Islamic State extremist group has claimed responsibility for killing at least 30 people for sodomy, the head of an international gay rights organization said Monday at the first-ever UN Security Council meeting spotlighting violence and discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people.
"It's about time, 70 years after the creation of the UN, that the fate of LGBT persons who fear for their lives around the world is taking center stage," said US Ambassador Samantha Power, who organized the meeting with Chile's UN envoy. "This represents a small but historic step."
Jessica Stern, executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, told the council that courts established by the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria claim to have punished sodomy with stoning, firing squads and beheadings and by pushing men from tall buildings.
Fear of the extremist group, which controls about a third of Syria and Iraq, has fueled violence by others against LGBT individuals, she said.
