For Buzzfeed,
While ISIS was executing suspected members of the LGBTQ community, the Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq was helping the accused escape from Syria. They were also documenting evidence if ISIS’s persecution of the gay community in hopes of having them listed among their war crimes during the trials that are now taking place in Iraq. Historically war criminals are not tried specifically for hate crimes against the LGBTq community, and currently those crimes are not being singles out in the ISIS trials. Lawyers in the region feel that calling specific attention to those crimes would lead to the gay community gaining special rights and recognition for a lifestyle that is still largely repressed.