Anti-gay attacks on rise in Iraq

[Babur]

a worrying trend...

Anti-gay attacks on rise in Iraq



Being gay in Baghdad is a dangerous lifestyle and secrecy is paramount

Gay Iraqi men are being murdered in what appears to be a brutal coordinated campaign involving militia forces, the group Human Rights Watch says.

It says hundreds of gay men have been targeted and killed in Iraq since 2004.
So-called honour killings also account for deaths where families punish their own kin in order to avoid public shame.
The report says members of the Mehdi Army militia group is spearheading the campaign, but police are also accused even though homosexuality is legal.
Witnesses say vigilante groups break into homes and pick people up in the street, interrogating them to extract the names of other potential victims, before murdering them.
HRW says it was told Iraqi security forces had sometimes "colluded and joined in the killing".

Witch hunt

Recently, posters appeared in Sadr City - a conservative, Shia area of Baghdad - calling on people to watch out for gay men and listing not only their names but also their addresses.
One gay man in Baghdad described the killing campaign as a witch hunt.

These killings will continue, because it has simply become normal in Iraq to kill gay men


Hossam [name changed]



Saddam's rule 'better' for gay Iraqis
Iraqi gay men face 'lives of hell'

Nearly 90 gay men have been killed in Iraq since the beginning of January, many more are missing, local gay rights campaigners say.
The report, called They want us exterminated: Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation and Gender in Iraq, says horrifically mutilated bodies of gay men have been left on rubbish tips.
Sometimes their bodies are daubed with offensive terms such as "pervert", or "puppy" which is a hate word for gay men in Iraq.
"We've heard stories confirmed by doctors of men having their anuses glued and then being force-fed laxatives which leads to a very painful death," says Rasha Mumneh, one of the authors of the Human Rights Watch report.

'Feminised men'

When questioned in the past, officials in Iraq have condemned the killings, but the BBC's Natalia Antelava in Baghdad reports that gay men there say nothing has been done to protect them.
"These killings will continue, because it has simply become normal in Iraq to kill gay men," said Hossam, not his real name.
Mehdi army spokesmen and clerics have condemned what they call the "feminisation" of Iraqi men and have urged the military to take action against them.
The report said many gay men have fled to other countries in the region, despite consensual homosexual activity being illegal there, because the risk of victimisation is reduced.
HRW says the threats and abuses have spread from Baghdad to Kirkuk, Najaf and Basra, although persecution remains concentrated in the capital.
Officials say the part of the problem in dealing with the attacks is that victims' relatives seldom if ever provide information for the police.
"They consider talking about the subject worse than the crime itself, this is the nature of our society," ministry spokesman Major General Abdul-Karim Khalaf said.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/8204853.stm

[Copperknickers II]

Well, Iraq does still carry the death penalty, perhaps once the laws are less barbaric the people will follow?

[Soulghast]

Well, Iraq does still carry the death penalty, perhaps once the laws are less barbaric the people will follow?

Most States in the US carry the death penalty as well, I doubt that it has anything to do with the murder of homosexuals in Iraq.

On the issue, I don't think there is much that can be done. Primitive morals coupled with religious fanaticism cannot realistically be combatted.

[Farnan]

The report says members of the Mehdi Army militia group is spearheading the campaign,

Mehdi army spokesmen and clerics have condemned what they call the "feminisation" of Iraqi men and have urged the military to take action against them.

The Mahdi Army was disbanded last year...

[Ateup]

The mahdi army still exists, it's just become more of a political force with a militia wing. Officially, yes, it was disbanded, but Jaish al Mahdi is still very active in Baghdad. Any violence committed by any mahdi elements are officially attributed to the mahdi "Special Groups" which are splinter elements that still take a hard line against the occupation. Whether or not they take orders from the al-Sadr hierarchy is a gray area, but "officially" they do not, which allows a loophole for al-Sadr to become a legitimate political player in Iraq. This loophole was put in intentionally by the GOI and CF in order to give the leaders of the shia militias a way to back down the violence without losing face. As it stands, JaM, and with it, the Mahdi army and affiliated militias still exist, but have been dormant for a while, hopefully permanently, but they still wield vast political power amongst the shia majority, which is backed up by their still substantial arms.

[Pallantides]

How do they know who is gay and who is not?

[Lost Sultan]

They got the gaydar.

[Pallantides]

They got the gaydar.

I dunno, the "gaydar" has failed me on a few occasions.

[A pimp named Slickback]

There are openly gay men in Iraq??!?!?

[Lonck]

wtf 'Feminised men'? don't islamic men dance with other men and kiss each other on the lips?

[A pimp named Slickback]

wtf 'Feminised men'? don't islamic men dance with other men and kiss each other on the lips?

WTF. Maybe in your dreams brotha. And wtf are "islamic men"?

[Pallantides]

It's ok as long as there are underage boys involved, once they are adults it's demonic.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Каие]

It was better under the Baathists.

1-nil to the Baathists.

I still can't understand why the Baathists are banned to this day.

wtf 'Feminised men'? don't islamic men dance with other men and kiss each other on the lips?

LOL so true. In Algeria men hold hands and put arms around each other, because they don't consider it gay over there.

I was like ''WTF you doin''.

[Lonck]

"islamic men" would be muslims. There is photo I've seen (somebody's signature I think on these forums) of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad kissing somebody on the lips. I also saw a docuentary where men could only dance with other men at a wedding reception.

[A pimp named Slickback]

Hehe, yeah that's pretty gay. But there are no common behaviour for "islamic" or muslim men, since Muslim encompass literally hundreds of culture and peoples whose customs and attitudes vary wildly. What Iranians or Arabs do isn't what a Malaysian or Indonesian does.

[A pimp named Slickback]

Man that guy needs to go his wife or sumtin.

[Amry]

I'm sorry, but with all the general chaos and lack of a functioning government, gay rights isn't really that high up in my agenda when discussing Iraq. Of course it's a problem, but it's not the biggest and most pressing one.

[Copperknickers II]

I'm sorry, but with all the general chaos and lack of a functioning government, gay rights isn't really that high up in my agenda when discussing Iraq. Of course it's a problem, but it's not the biggest and most pressing one.

What? That is a little homophobic, gays are humans, and i think human rights is a rather pressing matter, indeed the most important matter.

[A pimp named Slickback]

What? That is a little homophobic, gays are humans, and i think human rights is a rather pressing matter, indeed the most important matter.

No not really. 99% of people in the world care for economic well-being and health. I'd gladly live in a rich dictatorship than a poor democracy.

Only a person who has never been poor would say human rights is the most important thing.

[Amry]

What? That is a little homophobic, gays are humans, and i think human rights is a rather pressing matter, indeed the most important matter.

I think having access to clean water and a police force that don't shoot first and don't bother asking questions later is much, much more important than gay rights. It's a question of priorities. What do the average Iraqi care about gays? They're more concerned with holding a job and not being blown up by the random IED or American air support.

Build a halfway-decent country first, then we can move on to these matters.