`A step away from hell´: the young male refugees selling sex to survive
(The Guardian Germany)

Photographer Heba Khamis spent a year and a half documenting the lives of `black birds´: the male Afghan and Iranian sex workers in Berlin´s TiergartenAll photographs by Heba KhamisThe allure of romance is never far away in Berlin´s Tiergarten park, a vast 520-acre expanse home to manicured lawns, dense forest, a picturesque boating lake and the city zoo. As families lay out picnics and millennials fire up barbecues, those seeking something more illicit head to the park´s wooded north, where young male Afghan and Iranian refugees can be found selling sex to the hundreds of buyers who pass through Tiergarten each day.Mohamed, left, is one of many refugees who pretend to be gay or to have converted to Christianity to help strengthen his case for asylum. Obaied, 25, right, also works in a Chinese fast food van in another city`I don´t steal, I don´t disrespect people, but I have to earn money,´ says AliHashem sleeps in the parkThe female public toilet is often used for sexual encounters. (Right) Mujtaba is an Afghan refugee born in Iran. If deported, he will be sent to Afghanistan, a country he has never seenOmran lost his father, sister and brother when their house was bombed by the Taliban when he was six years oldRoman receives EUR239 (£420) a month in social aid. After paying his bills, he has around EUR40 left. He works in the park when he runs out of money Continue reading...