A gay man has told how he was beaten and raped by members of the Taliban after they used social media to lure him to a meeting.
The Afghan survived the brutal attack but is now petrified about what will happen to him now that the Taliban have taken control of his country.
According to ITV, the victim was tricked into going to the meeting after talking to another man online for several weeks. He thought he had been promised a safe passage out of the crisis-stricken country.
Instead, he was met by a pair of Taliban thugs who subjected him to the vicious rape and assault.
Artemis Akbary, an activist based in Turkey, told ITV that the threat of death for LGBT+ people in Afghanistan was greater than ever before after the Taliban takeover.
“They are trying to tell the world: ‘We are changed and we don't have problems with women's rights or human rights', but they are lying,” he said.
“The Taliban hasn't changed, because their ideology hasn’t changed.”
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The Taliban's ideology considers being gay illegal and it is punishable by death under its rule, and Artemis says there will be more brutal attacks on LGBT+ people by the Taliban.
"They'll make a profile account and deceive LGBT+ people by pretending they're a member of the community,” he said.
“My friends in Afghanistan are scared – they don't know what will happen to them in the future so they're just trying to hide.”
Brit ex-soldier launches daring plan to help 400 Afghans get out of the country
It’s just the latest horrific story to emerge from the country, which saw the last US forces pull out for good on Monday night.
Last week, it emerged that folk singer Fawad Andarabi was reportedly shot dead by the Taliban after music was outlawed.
The country’s former interior minister, Masoud Andarabi (no relation), said on Twitter that Fawad was “brutally killed” simply for “bringing joy to this valley and its people”.
It comes days after Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the New York Times that music was being banned just as it had been during the group’s brutal rule from 1996 until 2001.
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