Trans woman pleads for her life before being beaten to death
A trans woman begged for her life before being beaten to death in a horrifying video circulating online.
Dandara dos Santos, 42, was taken from her home, beaten, stripped and thrown in a wheelbarrow before being taken away to be killed.
The gang of six men who attacked her laughed and cheered as they kicked, punched and beat her with shoes and plank of wood.
The terrified woman, who lived in Fortaleza in northeastern Brazil, is seen wiping blood from her face and body in the video while pleading with her attackers to stop.
Instead, the men taunt her about her breasts and throw transphobic and homophobic insults at her, telling her in Portuguese that they “will kill the faggot”.
LGBT groups started spreading the video online on Friday – a move which police have said helped them to discover who the attackers were.
Police Inspector Damasceno, who is investigating the death, said: “Six people have been identified and the video has helped with that,” according to the Mirror.
If you believe that there should be tougher sentences for transphobic crimes in Brazil and around the world, please sign this petition.
The inspector continued: “The footage was first circulated among LGBT groups which helped that process.”
“The police began circulating the clip and we arrived at the house of two of the people identified but they fled.
“The investigation is already well advanced and we are going after the killers.”
Although Brazil legalised same-sex marriage in 2013 and hosts the world’s largest Pride celebration, LGBT attacks are upsettingly common.
A survey earlier this year found that one LGBT person was killed every 25 hours in Brazil throughout 2016.
144 of the victims were trans people, which translated to a hugely disproportional 42 percent of victims.
Attacks on trans people are not slowing down globally either, with two of the 30 people arrested last week for dressing as women in Saudi Arabia reportedly dying in police custody.
Saudi authorities have denied reports that the two victims from Pakistan were “beaten to death” by police, but a Pakistani trans activist rejected this rebuttal.
Speaking to PinkNews, Qamar Naseem pointed out that the police had already backtracked on earlier denials, adding that authorities would “never” confirm a murder by an officer.
“They have already admitted to the arrest of 30, which they were denying earlier, and they have now confirmed the death of one.
“We don’t expect them to admit to beatings. They will never (do that).”
And at least seven trans women have been killed in the US so far this year – including a horrifying total of four trans black women murdered in just one week.
The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programmes, which tracks crimes against transgender people, has documented seven murders so far this year.
Last year there were 23 homicides of trans and gender nonconforming people, the highest figure recorded by the organisation.
Trans women are being targeted at a higher figure in 2017 than in past years, the group has reported.
Activists are blaming the Trump administration, as trans people across the US have become the victims of anti-equality policies introduced by Donald Trump. Click here to sign a petition for the US government to treat trans young people better.
And if you believe that there should be tougher sentences for transphobic crimes in Brazil and around the world, please sign this petition.
