Transgender sex worker’s body found mutilated and burned in street in latest shocking attack on LGBT community in Turkey
Hande Kader, 22, was last seen getting into a client’s car last week before her burnt body was found in a posh neighbourhood
THE body of a transgender prostitute was found mutilated and badly-burned on a road side in Istanbul.
The murder of sex worker and political activist Hande Kader is the latest in a string of violent hate attacks carried out against the Turkish LGBT community.
Kader, 22, was last seen getting into a client’s car before her body was found in the posh neighbourhood of Zekeriyakoy.
A missing person’s report was filed last week after the victim’s partner alerted authorities that she had not returned home.
Her burnt corpse was later positively identified at the city morgue.
Kader had previously been pictured at LGBT rallies and was filmed being arrested by police at a demonstration in Istanbul.
related stories
This latest murder comes less than two weeks after the beheading of a gay Syrian refugee whose body was found a few miles from where Kader was discovered.
Muhammed Wisam Sankari, who had fled war torn Syria, was found decapitated after being raped and assaulted.
He could only be identified by the clothes he was wearing.
In another hate crime, a transwoman in the city southern city of Mersin was knifed by a gang of warped thugs but survived the attack last week.
While homosexuality is legal in Turkey, a recent poll by PEW Research Centre showed that nearly 80% of Turkish people think being gay is ‘morally unacceptable’.
This year's gay pride march in Istanbul was marred by violent clashes between revellers and police with authorities firing rubber bullets and tear gas.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368