Imam Called For Gay People to be Killed 'Out of Compassion'

Islamic scholar Sheikh Farrokh Sekaleshfar held a speaking engagement in Orlando in April, two years after he said that gay people should be killed "out of compassion."

"Death is the sentence. We know. There's nothing to be embarrassed about this. Death is the sentence," Sekaleshfar said in 2013 at the Husseini Islamic Center in Orlando. He returned in April 2016 to the Husseini Islamic Center in Orlando, the same city in which shooter Omar Mateen killed 50 at a gay nightclub.

"We have to have that compassion for people," Sekaleshfar said, according to the Washington Times. 

Orlando's WFTV 9 reported in April about Sekaleshfar's comments.

The sheikh told the audience that Islamic laws don't apply in the United States, but to be forgiven of their apparent sins, homosexuals must die, according to a reporter in the video.

"Out of compassion, let's get rid of them now," Sekaleshfar said in 2013.

In April when he returned, some residents said he should not have been invited back because of his 2013 comments.

"It's inciting violence against gays, and I find that reprehensible," Orlando resident Alan Kornman said in the video.

The center said it brought him back on the grounds of free speech.

Sekaleshfar has gained a following by urging Muslims to "get rid of" homosexuals, according to the Daily Mail. 

It is not clear if shooter Omar Mateen attended Sekaleshfar's speaking engagement in April, the Daily Mail reported.

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