Gays in Iraq Targeted For Murder By Insurgents And Government
| August 9th, 2006From the UK newspaper The Observer:
Hardline Islamic insurgent groups in Iraq are targeting a new type of victim with the full protection of Iraqi law, The Observer can reveal. The country is seeing a sudden escalation of brutal attacks on what are being called the ‘immorals’ - homosexual men and children as young as 11 who have been forced into same-sex prostitution.
There is growing evidence that Shia militias have been killing men suspected of being gay and children who have been sold to criminal gangs to be sexually abused. The threat has led to a rapid increase in the numbers of Iraqi homosexuals now seeking asylum in the UK because it has become impossible for them to live safely in their own country.[...]
Graphic photos obtained from Baghdad sources too frightened to identify themselves as having known a gay man, and seen by the Observer, show other gay Iraqis who have been executed. One shows two men, suspected of having a relationship, blindfolded with their hands tied behind their backs - guns at the ready behind their heads - awaiting execution. Another picture captured on a mobile phone shows a gay man being beaten to death. Yet another shows a corpse being dragged through the streets after his execution.
But it’s not just the insurgent groups killing off gays. It’s also our good friends and allies, the Iraqi government.
One photograph is of the mutilated, burnt body of 38-year-old Karar Oda from Sadr City. He was kidnapped by the Badr Brigade in mid-June. They work with the Ministry of Interior and are the informal armed wing of the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq, who make up the largest Shia bloc in the Iraq parliament. Oda’s family were given an arrest warrant signed by the Ministry of Interior which said their son deserved to be arrested and killed for immorality as a homosexual. His body was found ten days later.
Don’t get me wrong — queers were horribly abused under Saddam. That we are able to take a situation that bad and (if this Observer report is correct) make it worse is astonishing. At the very least, the U.S. (and the U.K.) should be offering asylum and citizenship to gay Iraqis who want (or, rather, need) to flee here.
[Crossposted at Creative Destruction, with the lovers, the dreamers, and me.]
August 10th, 2006 at 5:24 am
worse is astonishing. At the very least, the U.S. (and the U.K.) should be offering asylum and citizenship to gay Iraqis who want (or, rather, need) to flee here. [Crossposted at Creative Destruction, with the lovers, the dreamers, and me.] posted 12:45 am at Alas, a blog
This comment was written by feminist blogs.Report this comment to the moderators
August 10th, 2006 at 8:25 am
Did you notice the source for this? I’m not saying gays aren’t suffering in Iraq, but if you live in Baghdad, they’re basically killing everyone, women especially.
This comment was written by ginmar.Report this comment to the moderators
August 10th, 2006 at 8:53 am
It’ll get worse if (when?) Iranian backed Shia take controll, and that’s becoming increasingly likely unless we at least double the occupying army in size. If we withdraw, it will get worse immediatley.
I don’t see anything positive in terms of peace, and human rights happening in Iraq for a long, long time.
This comment was written by Josh Jasper.Report this comment to the moderators
August 10th, 2006 at 8:27 pm
stands pretty much in opposition to everything that you guys at least were nominally supposed to represent? For a starting point, you can consider the posts “Norwegian Authorities Still Covering Up Muslim Rapes” and “Gays in Iraq Targeted For Murder By Insurgents And Government”. Come on, I know that I have some leftist readers out there. I really wish that one of you bothered to address this question. Just humor me this one time. Do you really think that your life would be better if the white men in western countries
This comment was written by Sixteen volts.Report this comment to the moderators
August 10th, 2006 at 9:14 pm
How nice. We’re making Saddam look good.
This comment was written by ginmar.Report this comment to the moderators
August 10th, 2006 at 9:51 pm
Ampersand calls attention to yet another tragedy within the Iraqi occupation/civil war: Gay Iraqis are being murdered by insurgents with the official sanction of the Iraqi government. Amazingly, Iraqi law permits the killing of homosexuals. Section 111 of the
This comment was written by AlterNet: Blogs: PEEK.Report this comment to the moderators