Friends have identified the body of a gay Syrian refugee who was found beheaded, stabbed, raped in Turkey.

They only realized who the mutilated corpse belonged to by the pants he had on at the time of his death.

He was Muhammed Wisam Sankari, a refugee who arrived in Istanbul a year ago.

He had left his house in Aksaray on the night of 23 July, and found dead in Yenikapi on 25 July – more than 300 miles away.

Sankari’s friends had said he was trying to leave Turkey because he feared for his safety. He had previously been threatened, kidnapped and raped by a group of men.

When he left the house that night, his friends had told him not to go.

‘He didn’t come home all night. The next day, we panicked when we couldn’t reach him,’ another friend, Gorkem, said. ‘On Sunday police called us. We went to Yenikapi with Rayan.

‘They had cut Wisam violently. So violent that two knives had broken inside him. They had beheaded him. His upped body was beyond recognition, his internal organ were out. We could identify our friend from his pants.’

Rayan said they could not trust the United Nations or Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants (ASAM), as kidnappings and rapes and threats of the LGBTI community are far too common in Turkey.

‘We can only protect ourselves. We stay together to protect ourselves. We cannot get any information or answers. Just talk… ASAM called us after Wisam’s death,’ he said.

‘After his death… What’s the point? A very pure and good person is gone from this world.’