German father fined after assaulting, kidnapping gay son
A German district court has fined relatives of a Muslim teenager for kidnapping him, in an attempt to force him to marry a woman.
Eighteen-year-old Nasser El-Ahmad, whose family is from Lebanon, was also subjected to verbal and physical abuse and repeatedly threatened by his father and two uncles due to his sexuality, according to Reuters. El-Ahmad told German media that his father had threatened to slit his throat and one of his uncles doused him in petrol and intended to set him on fire because they couldn’t accept him being gay.
The court didn’t deal with El-Ahmad’s allegations, instead focusing on his kidnapping. He disappeared from care in December 2012 — which led to an Interpol alert — only to be discovered in a car at the Romania-Bulgaria border two days later. According to Ahmad, his family had kidnapped him in order to force his marriage to a Lebanese girl.
None of the men appeared in court to hear their sentencing, which took the judge just five minutes to deliver. Each was dealt a €1,350 ($1,417) fine.
For El-Ahmad, justice has been served. “I did what I have the strength to do. At least this came to court, I’m happy about that,” he said. In spite of the torment his family subjected him to, El-Ahmad is more confident in his sexuality than ever.
“I’m not someone who hides,” he added. “I don’t want to suppress my sexuality.”
Image Credit: Twitter
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