Shevan is a student and human rights activist. He has lived in Utrecht for three years because life in his native Syria was no longer safe.

In Syria it’s very hard to be gay. There is an LGBTI scene, but only underground. Under Syrian law, you can be sent to prison for between one and four years for being gay. And now, because of the war, it’s very likely that you will be killed.

Westermarkt is one of my favourite places in the Netherlands. On one side are the offices of Amnesty International where I do a lot of volunteering.

Around the corner is the Anne Frank House. Anne is my idol and plays a role in the book I’m writing. And then there’s the Homomonument.

In Syria we don’t have an LGBTI monument where we can commemorate the people who have been killed. I come here often to bring flowers, in memory of the friends I’ve lost there.

I was shocked and happy to see that Dutch MPs also lay flowers here. If an LGBTI person is killed in my country, nobody cares.