Staff at Brussels gay bar thought Paris terror suspect was ‘a rent boy’
Facts continue to emerge about the movements of Paris suspect Salah Abdeslam.
Brussels native Salah Abdeslam is thought to have fled to his hometown after taking part in the Paris attacks last week.
Authorities believe that Abdeslam served as a getaway driver for a set of suicide bombers during the attack – which left 130 dead and many more severely injured.
Recent reports regarding his actions leading up to the attack revealed that Abdeslam was known to frequent bars in the city’s gay quarter.
It is still unknown why the extremist visited such venues, but many in the media have speculated that he may have been trying to steal identification documents or plotting an attack.
One suggestion yet to be made was that the suspect was, in fact, gay.
However, a manager of one of the gay bars Abdeslam visited has claimed he thought the suspect was actually a sex worker.
“We had him down as a rent boy”, he reportedly told The Sunday Times.
Two friends of Abdeslam told ABC News they had spoken to him on Skype and said he was hiding in Brussels and desperately trying to get to Syria.
They said he was caught between European authorities hunting him and IS members who were “watching him” and were unhappy that he had not detonated his suicide belt.
Abdeslam’s brother, Mohamed, has issued public calls for his brother to turn himself in.
He told Belgian television RTBF: “We say to him that we prefer to see him in prison rather than in a graveyard.”
ISIS has executed hundreds of men for homosexuality as it expands beyond its strongholds.
The United Nations Security Council recently discussed the group’s tactics in persecuting LGBT people, as well as spreading terror and committing other atrocities.
The world has rushed to show solidarity with the French, with a number of landmarks lighting up in the colours of the French flag, and flowers left outside French embassies across the globe.
In yet another display of solidarity, a number of gay clubs and bars cut the music for a minute of silence following the attacks.
