"In my society, being gay means death," said one Iraqi man to the United Nations Security Council, hiding his identity out of fear for his safety. He was talking about living as a gay man under Isis.
A meeting of the UN Security Council has heard first-hand accounts of the horrors of living in the Islamic State, as gay men told ambassadors from around the world of the horrors of Isis.
One of the men who addressed the United Nations body, Subhi Nahas, spoke of watching on in fear as the group known as Nusra Front, linked to al-Qaeda, took control of his home town of Idlib. Nusra Front began the systematic torture and execution of men thought to be gay.
"This was to be my fate, too," Nahas told an informal meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Monday. The assembly was organised jointly by the United States and Chile, in the hope of drawing attention to "brutal attacks" by the militants against LGBT people.
"I was terrified to go out. Nor was my home safe, as my father, who suspiciously monitored my every move, had learned I was gay. I bear a scar on my chin as a token of his rage," said Nahas, according to the text of his pre-written speech.
Gay Syrian refugee Subhi Nahas (L) stands with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power (R) as they speak to the media at the United Nations headquarters in New York
“At the executions, hundreds of townspeople, including children, cheered jubilantly as at a wedding. If a victim did not die after being hurled off a building, the townspeople stoned him to death.”
After Mr Nahas fled Syria he went to Lebanon, before heading to Turkey for refuge.
The US Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, said this was the first time the UN Security Council had discussed LGBT issues.
"It is impossible not to take up the struggle for their rights as our own as we have other great human rights struggles," she is reported to have told the meeting. "Today, we take a small but important step in assuming that work. It must not be our last step."
Security Council members are not required to attend informal meetings, and diplomats have said that Angola and Chad were not present. The meeting was also open to all other U.N. member states.
Another man, known as Adnan, also told his story to the Security Council. The Iraqi spoke by telephone from an undisclosed location, as he said he was still not safe.
"In my society, being gay means death and when (Islamic State) kills gays most people are happy because they think we are evil, and (Islamic State) gets a good credit for that," he said, according to his prepared remarks.
Isis has released a series of images showing the execution of three gay men
"My own family turned against me when (Islamic State) was after me," said Adnan, who fled his home. "If (Islamic State) didn't get me, members of my family would have done it."
READ MORE: ISIS MILITANTS EMBRACE 'GAY' MEN BEFORE STONING THEM IN SYRIA
Adnan said Islamic State militants hunt down gay people through cell phone and Facebook contacts of people they capture.
In June this year, Isis executed three gay men by dangling them from a 100ft building and then letting go. Back in March, the chilling story broke of Isis fighters throwing another man, who they say was homosexual, off a tower. When he survived the fall, blindfolded, he was stoned to death.
