Ihsane Jarfi (1980 – 2012) was

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

ed in Liège, Belgium in April 2012. It was the first case of homophobic murder recognized under Belgian law.

Incident

Ihsane Jarfi, a 32-year-old Belgian

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

man, disappeared on April 22, 2012. He was last seen leaving the Open Bar, a

gay bar A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) clientele; the term ''gay'' is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT communities. Gay bars once served as ...

in the center of

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

, in a car with four other men. According to one of the four suspects arrested, they first struck him while in the car "to teach the homo a lesson". His attackers then stripped him and beat him, causing very serious injuries, including 17 rib fractures. They stole his money and his cell phone and left him naked and bleeding. The medical examiner established that he died between 4 and 6 hours after he was left in a field. His body was found by two hikers nine days later, on May 1, 2012. Mutlu Kizilaslan, Jeremy Wintgens, Jonathan Lekeu and Eric Parmentier were charged with homophobic murder in . They were also charged with theft with several aggravating circumstances, including that of having committed murder to facilitate the theft or ensure impunity, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment, acts of serious humiliation or degradation, and kidnapping. In December 2014, following a trial that began in November, the Liège Assize Court convicted Mutlu Kizilaslan, Jérémy Wintgens and Eric Parmentier to life imprisonment for having committed the homophobic assassination of Ihsane Jarfi. Jonathan Lekeu was sentenced to 30 years in prison for a homophobic murder.

Media

Book

* Ihsane Jarfi's father, of North African origin, wrote a book in 2013 entitled ''Ihsane Jarfi: le couloir du deuil'' (''Ihsane Jarfi: The Passageway of Mourning'') , in which he discusses the events leading up to the murder and condemns intolerance, whether it affects homosexuals,

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...

, or any other

minority Minority may refer to: Politics * Minority government, formed when a political party does not have a majority of overall seats in parliament * Minority leader, in American politics, the floor leader of the second largest caucus in a legislative b ...

Television documentary

* ''Le crépuscule d'Ihsane'' (''The Twilight of Ihsane'') broadcast November 20, 2013 and July 23, 2014, on ' sur

la Une La Une () is a Belgian national television channel, owned and operated by the French-language public-service broadcasting organization RTBF. La Une is the equivalent of Flemish station Eén, of the Flemish broadcaster VRT. History INR Expe ...

(

RTBF The ''Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française'' (RTBF, ''Belgian Radio-television of the French Community'', branded as rtbf.be) is a public service broadcaster delivering radio and television services to the French-speaking Commu ...

Theater

''La reprise, Histoire(s) du théâtre (I)'', conceived and directed by

Milo Rau Milo Rau (born January 25, 1977) is a Swiss theater director, journalist, essayist and lecturer. He won the Swiss Theater Award in 2014. Life Milo Rau was born in Bern, Switzerland. He studied sociology, German studies, and Romance studies in P ...

and performed by

NTGent NTGent, originally Nederlands Toneel Gent, is a theatre company in Ghent, Belgium. Subtitled "Het Stadtstheater van de Toekomst" (the City Theatre of the Future), it is especially known for the avant garde theatre produced by Milo Rau, who was ...

, premiered at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

in 2017. It was presented at Créations Studio in Brussels in 2017 and 2018, and at the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...

in August 2019. It was a five-act narrative of the events leading up to the murder presented through video and live performance.

Film

* ''Animals'', a 2021 film, was inspired by the murder of Ishane Jarfi and is dedicated to his memory.

External links

Ihsane Jarfi Foundation

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jarfi, Ihsane 1980 births 2012 deaths 2012 in Belgium 2012 in LGBT history 2012 murders in Belgium April 2012 crimes Deaths by beating in Europe LGBT rights in Belgium Violence against gay men Violence against LGBT people in Europe