The Taliban government are reportedly keeping a 'kill list' of gay people in Afghanistan which has forced many to go into hiding over fears for their lives.
The Islamist government say homosexuality is strictly prohibited, with gay people facing death often by brutal ways under a twisted interpretation of Sharia law.
The director of a LGBT+ human rights group in Afghanistan has claimed that the Taliban have drawn up list of gay people who they want to kill.
Kimahliu Powell, executive director of the Rainbow Railroad, the only international LGBT+ organisation on the ground in the country, told France 24: "This is a really scary time to be in Afghanistan.
"We now know for sure the Taliban has a 'kill list' circulating, identifying LBTQI+ persons."
Fears for the LGBTQ+ community in Afghanistan first emerged after the Taliban seized power in August.
Kimahliu said the Taliban is likely to have paid close attention to the names of people that foreign rights groups tried to evacuate in the weeks leading up to the withdrawal of US and allied troops from Afghanistan.
He said: "After the fall of Kabul, there was a lot of information sharing."
Kimahliu added that those who were unable to be evacuated had their identities were exposed so are likely to have been added to the Taliban's 'kill list'.
He claimed the Taliban used data leaks to add the names to their 'kill list' alongside 'entrapment' schemes as some gay people said they had received a mystery email from someone claiming to be connected with Rainbow Railroad asking for their information and passport.
LGBT people are among the most vulnerable in Afghanistan under Taliban rule and the Rainbow Railroad, founded in 2006, is helping to find refuge in safe houses for threatened members.
They are then taken 'by land or by air' to permanent safety in a foreign country.
The Rainbow Railroad says it has received more than 700 requests for help from LGBT+ Afghans since the Taliban seizing back power in July.
Kimahliu said he can guarantee that they will see a spike in members seeking refuge.
Rainbow Railroad shot to worldwide fame after helping more than a 100 people escape persecution during the deadly anti-gay purge in Chechnya in 2017.
Afghan laws already prohibited homosexuality, as people who engaged in same-sex sexual behaviour face persecution and jail.
But under the Taliban's extremist interpretation of Sharia Law, homosexuality is strictly prohibited and punishable by death.
Taliban judge Gul Rahim, 38, spoke matter-of-factly in July about toppling walls on gay men as a form of execution in in central Afghanistan.
The following month a gay man was raped and beaten by the Taliban as the country returned to Islamist rule.
The victim was lured out of hiding in the capital Kabul by two Taliban fighters who posed as a friend offering safe passage out of the country.
They then beat and raped the man when he arrived to meet them before demanding his dad's phone so they could tell him that his son is gay.
Nancy Kelley, chief executive of LGBT rights charity Stonewall, told i News: "For years LGBTQ+ Afghans have had to endure routine discrimination, abuse and persecution, including by the state.
"With the Taliban in power we expect this situation to deteriorate further."
