Rahmatulloh Saifutdinov (YouTube)

A famed Imam has claimed that if you fantasise about strangers during sex you will have a gay baby.

Rahmatulloh Saifutdinov preaches at the Mirzo Yusuf Mosque in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The Imam has become well known for his controversial rhetoric on LGBTQ+ issues.

Saifutdinov has called homosexuality a “disease that worries the world community”, and made other controversial comments about the place of men and women in Uzbek society.

Speaking at a Sermon on March 2, the Imam suggested that people were imagining strangers when have sexual intercourse with their spouses.

Related: President of Uzbekistan: Homosexuality is a ‘vulgar Western habit’ and gays are mentally ill

He said that some Uzbek women were thinking about “handsome” unknowns when with their husbands, but they should not be doing this because it makes their children gay.

He told the congregation: “Women are fantasising about handsome Turkish soap opera actors.

“It’s like having three people taking part in the intercourse,” he said, before adding that this could lead to the woman becoming pregnant with a homosexual baby boy.

“Men, too, are not allowed to imagine another beautiful woman when they are having sexual intercourse with their wives, because this may lead to the birth of a lesbian child,” Saifutdinov added.

LGBTQ people in Uzbekistan are frantically applying for asylum in surrounding countries as they face increasing persecution.

LGBTQ+ people have reported being threatened with death and violence as deep-rooted homophobia and discrimination continue to grow in the country. ﻿

Uzbek human rights activists in the country have reported that numerous people are being forced to apply for asylum and flee the country.

Related: LGBTQ people in Uzbekistan frantically apply for asylum as they face violence and death

The former Soviet country, which continues to have strong ties to Russia, continues to criminalise homosexuality for men – who can face up to three years in jail.

One trans woman, identified only as K, said that she was brutally beaten by Uzbek police and security forces a number of times between 2014 and 2017 after she refused to out other LGBTQ people.

Speaking to RFE/RL, she said that she was held and beaten across a number of days.

“I was beaten badly. After five or six days [of abuse] you just lie there.”

She was finally pushed to flee after she was reportedly raped in police custody in January 2017.

However, she is essentially a “stateless” person as she was born in a territory which became disputed after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“At that time there were no borders, and this area belongs to Tajikistan. There was a massive outflow of the population – to Russia and neighbouring countries. And those who came to Uzbekistan have yet to be granted citizenship,” she said.

However, she was granted an exit visa by Uzbek authorities and she headed to Moscow. When she reached there, her asylum request was denied on the basis that her persecution as a trans woman was not “justifiable” grounds.