US man claims gay marriage made him join Al Qaeda in Syria
A man who allegedly planned to join al Qaeda was desperate to leave the USA because of the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage.
Authorities say Adam Shafi wanted to join al Qaeda’s Syrian branch, al Nusra, after backing out of joining Daesh last year.
According to reports, Shafi believed American politics were “heading in the wrong direction”, after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of same-sex marriage earlier this year.
“Adam was discouraged with the politics and direction of the United States – citing the recent Supreme Court decision allowing gay marriage,” a criminal complaint released by the FBI claims.
“He wanted to be in a country of people of similar mindset and religion as himself.”
Shafi – who was reported to the authorities by his parents – had planned to join Daesh last year during a trip to Turkey, but opted against the move because he felt the group killed too many Muslims.
However, he felt that Jabhat al Nusra – which also executes gay people and adulterers – was the right amount of violent for him.
“If the [Islamic State] kills them, I want to die with them,” he said in a recording seized by the authorities.
“I am completely fine dying with these guys.”
Despite this recording, Shafi’s legal team claim that because he had returned from Turkey without joining a terrorist group, he is being punished for a crime he never committed.
Daesh, which operates predominantly across Syria and Iraq, is notorious for filming videos in which captives – usually Westerners or opposing fighters, such as al Nusra – are brutally slaughtered.
It has also taken to executing men it claims are gay, by throwing them off of tall buildings and pelting them with rocks in IS-produced videos.
Earlier this year, a video, shot in Palmyra, showed two Syrian men be thrown off a building before being stoned to death.
