Pakistan: Paramedic admits to killing 3 gay men, describing homosexuality as ‘evil’
A 28-year-old paramedic, who wanted to eliminate the “evil” of homosexuality from Pakistan society, has been arrested for killing several gay men he met online.
Muhammad Ejaz was arrested last week and confessed to three murders, saying he wanted to send out a message about the “evils” of homosexuality.
The killings took place in the city of Lahore.
Police say he had sex with the men before killing them.
In an interview with AFP from his prison cell on Sunday, Ejaz said: “My way was wrong. It is tragic that the families have lost their relatives but they were spreading evil in society and I had to stop it”.
Ejaz is due to appear in court on Monday.
“I wanted to warn them to stay away from this evil,” he added.
The killings happened in March and April, according to police officer Asad Sarfraz, who headed the investigation. The victims were a middle-aged retired army Major and two other men, both in their twenties.
All three were found with their necks broken and had been sedated.
Ejaz, who was married in 2011 and has two infant children, said his family knew nothing of what he had done and insisted that he was not gay himself.
“I started going on Manjam two months ago using my mobile phone, and found that the gays are everywhere in Lahore,” he said, referring to a popular social networking website.
“They are spreading evil and transmitting diseases. They cannot control themselves,” he added.
The defendant says being sexually abused as a 10-year-old contributed to his actions.
“I have hated them ever since what happened to me,” he said.
Same-sex sexual activity is currently illegal in Pakistan, and is punishable by lengthy jail terms. For “gross indecency between persons of the same sex”, someone in Pakistan could be sentenced to between 2 and 10 years in prison, and for “buggery”, life imprisonment can be applied.
