Pak serial killer wanted to ‘teach gays a lesson’
29 April 2014 5:28 AM IST
The killings have sent shockwaves through the underground gay community of the eastern city of Lahore, which fears Ejaz could be lionized as a hero in a conservative Islamic society where homosexuality is stigmatized and sodomy is punishable by up to 10 years in jail.
In an interview with AFP from his prison cell on Sunday night, Ejaz, who sported a neat trimmed beard and was kept shackled, expressed remorse over the killings but said he was acting to stop wrongdoing. ‘My way was wrong. It is tragic that the families have lost their relatives but they were spreading evil in society and I had to stop it,’ said Ejaz, who is due to appear in court on Monday. ‘I wanted to warn them to stay away from this evil.’
The killings happened in March and April, according to police officer Asad Sarfraz, who headed the investigation. The victims were a middle-aged retired army Major and two other men, both in their twenties. All three were found with their necks broken and had been sedated. After examining their mobile phone call logs, police were able to identify Ejaz’s number and found another former lover whom they used as a honey trap to lure him to a meeting a week ago, where they arrested him. Ejaz, who was married in 2011 and has two infant children, said his family knew nothing of what he had done and insisted that he was not gay himself.
‘I started going on Manjam two months ago using my mobile phone, and found that the gays are everywhere in Lahore,’ he said, referring to a popular social networking website.
In an interview with AFP from his prison cell on Sunday night, Ejaz, who sported a neat trimmed beard and was kept shackled, expressed remorse over the killings but said he was acting to stop wrongdoing. ‘My way was wrong. It is tragic that the families have lost their relatives but they were spreading evil in society and I had to stop it,’ said Ejaz, who is due to appear in court on Monday. ‘I wanted to warn them to stay away from this evil.’
The killings happened in March and April, according to police officer Asad Sarfraz, who headed the investigation. The victims were a middle-aged retired army Major and two other men, both in their twenties. All three were found with their necks broken and had been sedated. After examining their mobile phone call logs, police were able to identify Ejaz’s number and found another former lover whom they used as a honey trap to lure him to a meeting a week ago, where they arrested him. Ejaz, who was married in 2011 and has two infant children, said his family knew nothing of what he had done and insisted that he was not gay himself.
‘I started going on Manjam two months ago using my mobile phone, and found that the gays are everywhere in Lahore,’ he said, referring to a popular social networking website.
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