On October 26 at 7 pm, LGBT Ireland, in partnership with Dublin LGBTQ Pride and GCN, will host a fascinating event ‘An evening with Nemat Sadat’. Nemat is an Afghan LGBTQ+ activist, who has just been awarded ‘Campaigner of the Year’ at the 2022 PinkNews Awards in London. They were nominated for the award for their tireless work on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community living under Taliban rule. The queer community and members of the general public are invited to attend next week’s event to learn more about Nemat’s advocacy, as well as the concerning situation in Afghanistan.

The event will be hosted in the Outhouse in Dublin, as well as being streamed on Facebook live. It is free to attend, and participants can register via eventbrite.

Nemat’s journey with activism began when they came out as gay on Facebook in 2013. Nemat was disowned by many relatives, receiving thousands of threats, and a fatwa (a formal ruling or interpretation of Islamic law given by a qualified legal scholar) by the Mullahs of Afghanistan.

Speaking about this experience, Nemat said: “From that very moment I made my pioneering coming out in the Afghan community, I knew that I would be dedicating the rest of my life fighting for LGBTQ+ equality in my homeland and around the world.

“Last year when the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, I went into frantic mode trying to evacuate as many LGBTQ+ people as possible and I continue my work today providing humanitarian relief, psychosocial support, and resettlement assistance to over 1,000 LGBTQ+ Afghans. And I won’t stop as long as tyranny remains in Afghanistan and in all of the 69 countries where homosexuality is still deemed illegal.”

We are delighted to team up with @DublinPride & @GCNmag to welcome @PinkNews 2022 Campaigner of the Year @nematsadat to Dublin.

Join us next Wednesday for a unique opportunity to hear Nemat discuss their career as an activist supporting LGBTQI+ Afghanshttps://t.co/vtrQ2JJsWq

— LGBT Ireland (@LGBT_ie) October 20, 2022

At the event on October 26, Nemat Sadat will be joined by broadcaster and journalist Dil Wickremasinghe. They are set to talk about Nemat’s activism to secure safety abroad for LGBTQ+ people living under threat with the current situation in Afghanistan.

One tragic example of the current state of affairs for queer people in the country, can be seen through the story published by The Guardian of one gay Afghan man reportedly being abducted, tortured and murdered by the Taliban. Hamed Sabouri was an aspiring medical student, and regrettably one of the latest victims in a horrifying string of violence against the queer community. Last August, Sabouri was detained at a checkpoint in Kabul and after being tortured for three days, video of his execution was reportedly sent to his family. The family has been forced to leave Afghanistan for their own safety.