Syria

Same-sex sexual activity is prohibited under the Penal Code 1949, which criminalises acts of ‘unnatural sexual intercourse’. This provision carries a maximum penalty of three years’ imprisonment. Both men and women are criminalised under this law.

Syria gained its independence from France in 1946, and adopted its first post-independence penal code in 1949. France had not criminalised same-sex sexual activity for more than a century, meaning that the criminalising provision in Syria is of local origin.

There is some evidence of the law being enforced in recent years, with LGBT people being occasionally subject to arrest by state authorities. Additionally, since the Revolution in 2011 and the ensuing conflict, LGBT people have regularly been detained and executed by militant groups which have controlled parts of Syria. There have been consistent reports of discrimination and violence being committed against LGBT people in recent years, including murder, assault, sexual violence, harassment, and blackmail.

2019

With reports of ISIS’s defeat in the region, ILGA World’s State-Sponsored Homophobia no longer includes Syria (or Iraq) among its list of countries in which the death penalty is imposed or at least a possibility for same-sex sexual activity.

2023

An Interior Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that about 200 Syrians are currently in prison “convicted of gay sex”.

A Country of Origin Information Report by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs refers to reports from a confidential source that the Syrian security apparatus had created fake accounts on Grindr to identify LGBT people and prosecute them. The report also highlights, however, it was also noted that information on actual prosecutions of LGBT people in Syria is scarce. It is further reported that in areas where HTS (an armed group which administers half the province of Idlib) exercises authority, people that identify as LGBT can receive the death penalty, and that the families of people killed in these cases will often accept death as an honour killing or crime so as to maintain their status and reputation in their community.

2022

The US Department of State report noted that there were no reports of prosecutions that year, although there had been in previous years. Furthermore, NGO reports indicated that dozens of LGBT people had been arrested since 2011 on charges such as abusing social values; selling, buying, or consuming illegal drugs; and organising and promoting “obscene” parties.

2021

The 2021 Country of Origin Information Report on Syria, published by the  Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, notes that criminal prosecution usually takes place on the basis of Article 517, which prohibits violations of “public decency”. The report further states that arrests usually take place without warrants and the detainees are subject to verbal, physical and sexual violence.

2020

The US Department of State report noted that although there were no reports of police enforcement during the year, in previous years prosecutions had been brought against LGBT people. Furthermore, several militant groups have been reported as detaining, torturing, and killing LGBT people in recent years.

An article published by Syria Direct in October reported that while Article 520 of the Syrian Penal Code is rarely applied, LGBT people are instead prosecuted under other charges, such as disturbing public order.

2018

A report by the UN Human Rights Council documented the sexual and gender-based violence committed in Syria during the conflict that followed the 2011 Revolution. In regard to LGBT people, it documented that during the height of its control over parts of Syria, ISIL regularly executed people accused of same-sex sexual activity. This included an incident in which a teenage boy was thrown off a building, having been accused of ‘sodomy’. The report concluded that this treatment constituted a crime against humanity.

2017

In August, it was reported that pictures had been released of a man suspected of being gay being thrown from the roof of a building by members of ISIS.

2010

Prior to the Syrian Revolution, an “upsurge” in the number of LGBT individuals being targeted by the country’s laws was noted. Since the Revolution a number of reports suggest that LGBT individuals are now exposed to a double threat of being abused; both by Syrian police and Islamic Extremists.

2022

The US Department of State report noted that the regime incited, perpetrated, and condoned violence against LGBT persons. NGOs continued to report that the regime and other armed groups subjected perceived members of the LGBT community to humiliation, torture, and abuse in detention centres, including rape, forced nudity, and anal or vaginal examinations.  

An article by the Atlantic Council published in June noted that openly identifying as LGBT is likely to result in social exclusion, imprisonment or forms of torture. It was also reported that in areas such as north and northwest Syria, being outed could result in execution. Often families would accept the death as an honour killing to preserve their reputation within the community.  

2021 

A report of the UN Human Rights Commission noted “unauthorised courts” created by HTS and other armed groups issuing death sentences, particularly against “women and sexual minorities, including men accused of homosexuality”. According to the report, executions of LGBT people also took place in ISIL-controlled areas.  

A report published in June by the Centre for Operational Analysis and Research (“COAR”) set out some of the dangers and difficulties faced by LGBT people in Syria since the outbreak of the conflict in 2011. These include risks faced by gay men in military service; the danger faced by transgender persons when passing through army and security checkpoints where they are forced to provide ID cards that may not match their current physical appearance; and the vulnerability of LGBT refugees in countries such as Lebanon and Jordan, due to the double-stigma they may experience due to being Syrian and LGBT. The COAR report further noted that lesbian and bisexual women who are open about their sexual identity may be barred from communicating outside the family, and face violence, conversion therapy and forced marriage.  

2020

The US Department of State report noted that human rights activists reported there was overt societal discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in all aspects of society. There were also reports of extremist groups blackmailing and harassing LGBT people.

A report by Human Rights Watch documented the sexual violence faced by gay and bisexual men and transgender women during the conflict. It reported increased and intensified violence, including rape, sexual harassment, genital violence, threat of rape, and forced nudity. Survivors suffer from various psychological and physical traumas.

MOSAIC and Gender Justice & Security published a report in December 2020. They had undertaken six focus groups and ten interviews with LGBT people between September 2019 and September 2020 in Syria, Lebanon and Turkey. Respondents from Aleppo noted there was a risk of being disappeared or kidnapped by militias, and described a threat of harassment and abuse by state authorities. They further feared being entrapped over social media by security agents and Islamist armed groups posing as homosexual men in dating applications. Furthermore, most respondents had been ostracized by family members. Lesbians in some families in Aleppo were reported as being kept essentially as ‘domestic slaves’ and not allowed contact with outsiders.

According to a Reuters report, gay, bisexual and transgender Syrians were often subjected to sexual abuse or harassment at checkpoints, in detention centres and during house raids. It was further reported that Syrian refugees who survived war sexual violence were struggling to access medical or mental health care in their host countries.

2014

A report from Amnesty International in February suggested that LGBT asylum seekers from Syria have been subjected to a large degree of abuse in Lebanon, including rape and physical assault.

A report from Human Rights Watch in April documents a number of incidents of abuse. In one case a gay couple were allegedly forced to have sex with each other in front of army interrogators. A number of individuals told Human Rights Watch of being rejected by their families. Of 19 individuals interviewed, five reported receiving death threats. A number of LGBT people have fled the country into Lebanon, where some have been subjected to further abuse by being forced to undergo anal tests to determine their sexuality.

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