Criminalization

According to the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) seven countries still retain capital punishment for homosexual behavior: Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iran, Afghanistan, Mauritania, Sudan, and northern Nigeria.[110][111] In United Arab Emirates it is a capital offense.[12][13] In Qatar, Algeria, Uzbekistan, and the Maldives, homosexuality is punished with time in prison or a fine. This has led to controversy regarding Qatar, which is due to stage the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Human rights groups have questioned the awarding in 2010 of the right to host the competition, due to the possibility that gay football fans may be jailed. In response, Sepp Blatter, head of FIFA, joked that they would have to "refrain from sexual activity" while in Qatar. He later withdrew the remarks after condemnation from rights groups.[112]

Same-sex sexual activity is illegal in Chad since August 1, 2017 under a new penal code. Homosexuality between consenting adults had never previously been criminalized prior to this law.[113][sumber lebih baik diperlukan]

In Muslim-majority countries, open gay life rarely exists, but "the closet is spacious." Even countries with strict laws against homosexual people "have flourishing gay scenes at all levels of society."[94][114]

In Egypt, openly gay men have been prosecuted under general public morality laws. (See Cairo 52.) "Sexual relations between consenting adult persons of the same sex in private are not prohibited as such. However, the Law on the Combating of Prostitution, and the law against debauchery have been used to imprison gay men in recent years."[115]

Islamic state has decreed capital punishment for gays. They have executed more than two dozen men and women for suspected homosexual activity, including several thrown off the top of buildings in highly publicized executions.[116]

In India, which has the third-largest Muslim population in the world, and where Muslims form a large minority, the largest Islamic seminary (Darul Uloom Deoband) has vehemently opposed recent government moves[117] to abrogate and liberalize laws from the British Raj era that banned homosexuality.[118] As of September 2018, homosexuality is no longer a criminal act in India, and most of the religious groups withdrew their opposing claims against it in the Supreme Court.[119]

In Iraq, homosexuality is allowed by the government, but terrorist groups often carry out illegal executions of gay people. Saddam Hussein was "unbothered by sexual mores." Ali Hili reports that "since the 2003 invasion more than 700 people have been killed because of their sexuality." He calls Iraq the "most dangerous place in the world for sexual minorities."[94]

In Jordan, where homosexuality is legal, "gay hangouts have been raided or closed on bogus charges, such as serving alcohol illegally."[94]

In Pakistan, its law is a mixture of both Anglo-Saxon colonial law as well as Islamic law, both which proscribe criminal penalties for same-sex sexual acts. The Pakistan Penal Code of 1860, originally developed under colonialism, punishes sodomy with a possible prison sentence and has other provisions that impact the human rights of LGBT Pakistanis, under the guise of protecting public morality and order. Yet, the more likely situation for gay and bisexual men is sporadic police blackmail, harassment, fines, and jail sentences.[120]

In Saudi Arabia, the maximum punishment for homosexual acts is public execution by beheading.[121] However the government usually uses lesser punishments—for example, fines, time in prison, and whipping—as alternatives.

In Turkey, homosexuality is legal, but "official censure can be fierce". A former interior minister, İdris Naim Şahin, called homosexuality an example of "dishonour, immorality and inhuman situations".[94]

Death penalty

In 2016, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) released its most recent State Sponsored Homophobia Report. The report found that thirteen countries or regions impose the death penalty for "same-sex sexual acts" with reference to sharia-based laws. The death penalty is implemented nationwide in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Yemen; implemented locally in Nigeria (12 northern states) and Somalia (southern parts); allowed by the law but not implemented in Afghanistan, Mauritania, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates; implemented through non-state courts by ISIS in parts of Iraq and Syria.[122] Brunei's Sharia Penal Code, implemented in stages since 2014, also prescribes death by stoning as punishment for sex between men.[123]

Legalization

The Ottoman Empire (predecessor of Turkey) decriminalized homosexuality in 1858. In Turkey, where 99.8% of the population is Muslim, homosexuality has never been criminalized since the day it was founded in 1923.[124] And LGBT people also have the right to seek asylum in Turkey under the Geneva Convention since 1951.[125]

Same-sex sexual intercourse is legal in Albania, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau, Iraq (except those parts controlled by the Islamic State), Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, Niger, Tajikistan, Turkey, West Bank (State of Palestine), most of Indonesia, and in Northern Cyprus. In Albania and Turkey, there have been discussions about legalizing same-sex marriage.[126][127] Albania, Northern Cyprus and Kosovo also protect LGBT people with anti-discrimination laws.

In 2016, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) released its most recent State Sponsored Homophobia Report. The report found that "same-sex sexual acts" are legal in 121 countries. These countries comprise 63% of the countries in the United Nations. Of these 121 countries, twenty-one are in Africa, nineteen are in Asia, twenty-four are in the Americas, forty-eight are in Europe, and seven are in Oceania.[128] The full report with the names of countries in which same-sex acts are legal or illegal can be read at State Sponsored Homophobia 2016.[129]

Same-sex marriage

In 2007 there was a gay party in the Moroccan town of al-Qasr al-Kabir. Rumours spread that this was a gay marriage and more than 600 people took to the streets, condemning the alleged event and protesting against leniency towards homosexuals.[130] Several persons who attended the party were detained and eventually six Moroccan men were sentenced to between four and ten months in prison for "homosexuality".[131]

In France there was an Islamic same-sex marriage on February 18, 2012.[132] In Paris in November 2012 a room in a Buddhist prayer hall was used by gay Muslims and called a "gay-friendly mosque",[133] and a French Islamic website[134] is supporting religious same-sex marriage.

The first American Muslim in the United States Congress, Keith Ellison (D-MN) said in 2010 that all discrimination against LGBT people is wrong.[135] He further expressed support for gay marriage stating:[136]

I believe that the right to marry someone who you please is so fundamental it should not be subject to popular approval any more than we should vote on whether blacks should be allowed to sit in the front of the bus.

In 2014 eight men were jailed for three years by a Cairo court after the circulation of a video of them allegedly taking part in a private wedding ceremony between two men on a boat on the Nile.[137]