Iraq: Hell on earth for gays, other sexual minorities

BBC:

In the years after the invasion, the security situation deteriorated for everyone in th country. But for sexual minorities, Iraq became hell on earth.

By 2007, political and religious groups backed by militiamen launched what we believe was an organised, co-ordinated campaign to hunt, arrest, torture and kill everyone they perceived as gay.

These radical groups deny sexual minorities the right to life. They target everyone who does not conform to their religious description of family.

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We believe the Ministry of the Interior tracks sexual minorities with the aim of eliminating them”

That is why killings of gays are similar to so-called honour killings of women said to bring shame on to the family by having extra-marital sex, even in cases when women are raped.

In the same way, gay men and women who do not adhere to traditional sexual practices within an accepted marriage framework are seen as dangerous to society.

Instead of protecting sexual minorities, the Iraqi government facilitates their murder by arresting the victims and handing them over to militias who kill them.

Iraqi LGBT sources working inside Iraq have found the militias are also getting intelligence about the identities of sexual minorities from the Ministry of the Interior.

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Dutch govt will grant political asylum to gay Iraqis

Good. Read the rest of this post...

State Dept. condemns anti-gay killings in Iraq that advocates say are sponsored by Iraqi govt

Following criticism from an Iraqi human rights advocate, the US State Department has condemned a series of anti-gay anti-"emo" killings in Iraq that have taken place recently.   Here's the statement that State gave to Mike Signorile last night:

We strongly condemn the recent violence and killings in Iraq by groups who appear to be targeting individuals based on their sexual orientation, gender identity, or personal expression. These acts of intolerance have no place in democratic societies.

We are monitoring this situation closely on the ground and in Washington, and have expressed our concern to the Government of Iraq.

As Secretary Clinton said, “Like being a woman, like being a racial, religious, tribal, or ethnic minority, being LGBT does not make you less human… It is a violation of human rights when people are beaten or killed because of their sexual orientation, or because they do not conform to cultural norms about how men and women should look or behave.”

Mike has more on the killings:

Media organizations have labeled the new reports of murders as “emo killings” since the recent targets have been youth associated with the "emo" movement -- young men who listen to Western music, dress in black, wear tattoos and style their hair. Many are not gay, but Ali Hili, speaking on my radio program on SiriusXM, said that they are considered gay to many Islamic fundamentalists in Iraq. He said these killings are part of a larger pattern of killing and violence carried out by Islamic militias against gay men for the past six years.

“There’s a lack of knowledge in the militias," Hili said. 'To them anyone who has adopted a certain Western style, a certain appearance -- anyone that appears different, it’s a homosexual phenomenon, period.”

Hili emphasized that an agenda demanding conformity is being carried out from within the Interior Ministry of the Iraqi government, which he believes has not only ignored the killings but, as media organizations have also reported, has sent its Social Police into the streets of Baghdad to enforce religious doctrine.

“It’s the miltias with the support of the Iraqi government,” he said. “The goverment has declared war on sexual minorities. It’s worse than [Saudi Arabia].

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IGLHRC: 40 gays murdered in Iraq

INTERNATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media contact: Roberta Sklar; 917.704.6358; rsklar@iglhrc.org
March 5, 2012

Emerging from Iraq: Reports of kidnapping and murder of Gay and Lesbian people

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission has today received reports from Iraq of a wave of targeted killings of individuals who are perceived to be gay or lesbian. According to Iraqi human rights activists, in early February 2012, an unidentified group posted death threats against "the adulterous individuals" in the pre-dominantly Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad and Basra. The threats gave the individuals, whose names and ages were listed, four days to stop their behavior or else face the wrath of God, and were to be carried out by the Mujahedin. According to sources inside Iraq, as the result of this new surge of anti-gay violence close to 40 people have been kidnapped, brutally tortured and murdered. The Iraqi authorities have neither responded to this targeted violence nor have they publically denounced it. It is widely believed that these atrocities are being committed by a group of the Shiite militia.

Statement from Cary Alan Johnson, Executive Director, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission

Today the Government of Iraq represents a fully sovereign and democratic country. As such, it must protect all of its citizens including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from hate-filled violence and death at the hands of armed militias. Vigilantes who perpetuate the targeted killing of those perceived to be gay or lesbian must not be tolerated in a new Iraq. We have seen these atrocities before. In 2009 vigilantes murdered hundreds of Iraqi individuals for their perceived sexual orientation. There are no excuses for such heinous human rights violations. We demand that the Iraqi Government put a stop to the wanton persecution and killing of gay people, and that the perpetrators punished.

Statement from Hossein Alizadeh, Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission

The Iraqi government is responsible for the protection of all Iraqi citizens, including the members of the gay and lesbian community. We call on the Iraqi authorities to immediately intervene to protect the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and to bring to justice those who are responsible for these atrocities. We particularly demand the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights denounce the anti-gay violence in Iraq and launch an official investigation into these heinous crimes.

For background regarding incidents in 2009 go to:

http://www.iglhrc.org/cgi-bin/iowa/article/takeaction/partners/889.html

http://www.iglhrc.org/cgi-bin/iowa/article/pressroom/multimediaarchives/961.html

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More on the plight of gays in Iraq

I introduced AMERICAblog Gay readers to Ali Hili and the work he has done to attempt to protect the LGBT community in Iraq since the disastrous consequences of the Iraq War. Ali has provided the following disturbing update via his blog, IRAQILGBT.

November 2009 – The rise of fundamentalist groups in Iraq since the 2003 U.S. led invasion has proven deadly to LGBT Iraqis, who are now being forced to either hide or face the consequences.

Using the internet as a means to track down new victims, militia members are now employing computer analysts to monitor traffic on gay dating and networking websites in the region. They work with internet café owners to single out people who frequent these sites and set up fake profiles in the attempt to lure them out.

Mission Accomplished, I'm sure.

On the 2nd of September, the body of 21-year-old student Mizher Hussien was discovered in Al Najaf, a city south of Baghdad. His head and genitals had been severed, and he had the word “pervert” written in black across his chest. The details of his murder are unknown, and Iraqi police have refused to launch an investigation into the cause or motivation of the crime.

On the 18th of September in Al Shatra Amara, two bodies were found exhibiting signs of torture. They had both been decapitated and left with a paper stating, “This is the end of all pervert homosexuals”.

And:

The Iraqi government has largely been absent in pursuing the roaming death squads who carry out these acts, likely due to the influence of extremist Shia religious parties that are calling for a moral cleansing of Iraq.

Sadly, those in our government who were responsible for starting the Iraq War and handing control to Shia militia groups probably don't even consider these human rights violations collateral damage. It would be nice, at the very least, to hear a denouncement or two by our government of these despicable actions.

With extremist militias threatening all those known to support LGBT rights, including the 2006 raid of an Iraqi LGBT planning meeting in which five activists were arrested, there is little hope for Iraqis suffering under the new socio-political climate. Once the most liberal and secular of the Arab nations, nowadays a religious extremism has taken hold of the country to the detriment of its people.

Mission Accomplished, indeed. Read the rest of this post...

Being gay in Iraq and Iran

Sometimes when I reflect on our fight for equal civil rights for the LGBT community here in the United States, I'm drawn to the horrific stories of what other countries and cultures are doing to our LGBT brothers and sisters. Check out the Iranian law on homosexuality:

Article 108: Lavat is an act of congress [vati] between males whether in [the form of] penetration or of tafkhiz (the rubbing of thighs/of the penis against thighs).
Article 109: Both the active and passive partners to lavat are subject to the hadd [punishment].
Article 110: The hadd [punishment] for lavat where penetration has occurred is death and the method of execution is at the discretion of the Sharia judge.
Article 111: Lavat is punishable by death so long as both the active and passive partners are mature, of sound mind, and have acted of free will.
Article 112: If a mature man commits an act of lavat with a minor the active partner [i.e. mature man] will be executed and the passive partner will, unless he has acted under duress, receive up to 74 lashes of the whip.
Article 113: Whenever a minor commits an act of congress [vati: i.e. whether penetrative or in the form of “tafkhiz or similar acts”] with another minor [both] will receive up to 74 lashes unless one of them has acted under duress.

The trumped up case of one such suspect of "Lavat" proves how perilous it is to live as a gay man in a country like Iran, and how desperately important it is for humane societies to give those men asylum.

After the jump, the new forms of torture they're using against gays in Iraq.

I'm especially moved by stories of how the LGBT community has suffered in Iraq after George W. Bush's invasion, and feel a sense of outrage that is born from the sense if we had not invaded, based on lies in the first place, then many of our LGBT brothers and sisters in Iraq would not be living in a more militant Shiite anti-gay society. Of course, those on the Talibangelical right, I'm sure, see this development as a plus. The next story, about a new form of torture being inflicted on gay men, is truly horrific:

As the murder campaign targeting Iraqi gays intensifies, a leading Arabic television network last week revealed the use of a horrifying new form of lethal torture against Iraqi gay men - anti-gay Shiite death squads are sealing their anuses with a powerful glue, then inducing diarrhea, which leads to a painful and agonizing death.

The use of this stomach-turning new torture was first reported by the Al Arabiya network, which is headquartered in the United Arab Emirates and was alerted to the story by a leading Iraqi feminist and human rights activist.

Ali Hili is also mentioned in the article. He is an Iraqi gay rights activist who operates out of London, through Iraqi LGBT, and attempts to save gays in Iraq by operating safe houses throughout the country, and trying to provide them asylum. Read the rest of this post...

How Islamist gangs use the Internet to track, torture and kill Iraqi gays - can any hackers out there help?

Horrific story from the Guardian about how Iraqi militias are now trying to weed out the gays. The problem only developed after we invaded.

Sitting on the floor, wearing traditional Islamic clothes and holding an old notebook, Abu Hamizi, 22, spends at least six hours a day searching internet chatrooms linked to gay websites. He is not looking for new friends, but for victims.

"It is the easiest way to find those people who are destroying Islam and who want to dirty the reputation we took centuries to build up," he said. When he finds them, Hamizi arranges for them to be attacked and sometimes killed.

There must be some computer geeks, hacker types, out there who can find this guy, these guys - find the thugs, I mean - and help us publicize who they are, where they live, etc. Let's turn the tables on them. Expose them.

The killings are brutal, with victims ritually tortured. Azhar al-Saeed's son was one. "He didn't follow what Islamic doctrine tells but he was a good son," she said. "Three days after his kidnapping, I found a note on my door with blood spread over it and a message saying it was my son's purified blood and telling me where to find his body."

She went with police to find her son's remains. "We found his body with signs of torture, his anus filled with glue and without his genitals," she said. "I will carry this image with me until my dying day."

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More from Mixner on Iraqi gays being abused

From David Mixner:

In a terrifying and disturbing report, the highly respected Human Rights Watch has revealed that hundreds of members of the Iraqi LGBT community have been killed and many more tortured since 2004. Adding to the horror has been the fact that many of the abductions, tortures and killings are being aided by government forces. Without a doubt, the mass round up of members of the LGBT community in Iraq is one of the worst in any country.

Almost as disturbing has been the near total silence of the United States government on this issue. Despite some mild inquiries, the Obama administration has not put its full force behind the efforts to condemn and stop the wholesale killings and torture. The situation could not be more appalling and it appears to be getting worse.

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Human Rights Watch reports on gays being murdered by militias in Iraq

We've written about this issue before, but this news comes via Human Rights Watch. It's very disturbing. The U.S. "liberated" Iraq. Now that "liberated" Iraq is killing gays en masse. That didn't happen during the days of Saddam:

Gay Iraqi men are being murdered in what appears to be a co-ordinated 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 are 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.

We really need the U.S. government, starting with the State Department, to weigh in here. Read the rest of this post...

USAToday reports on Gays targeted for death by militias in Iraq: 82 killed since December

The disaster that was and is the war in Iraq has had a horrible impact on the country's LGBT community. The brutal violence against gays in Iraq is getting coverage in the traditional media. USAToday shines a light on this deplorable situation:

At least 82 gay men have been killed in Iraq since December, according to Iraqi LGBT. The violence has raised questions about the Iraqi government's ability to protect a diverse range of vulnerable minority groups that also includes Christians and Kurds, especially following the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraqi cities last month.

Mithal al-Alusi, a secular, liberal Sunni legislator, is among those who blame the killings on armed militant groups such as al-Qaeda and the Mahdi Army militia.

By targeting one of the most vulnerable groups in a conservative Muslim society — people whose sexual orientation is banned by Iraqi law — the militias essentially are serving notice that they remain powerful despite the U.S. and Iraqi militaries' efforts to curtail them, al-Alusi says.

The militants "want to educate the society to accept killers on the street," al-Alusi says in an interview. "Why did Hitler start with gays? They are weak. They have no political cover. They have no legal cover."

The attacks have terrified a gay community that, for a brief time after the U.S. troop surge in 2007-08, tentatively enjoyed greater freedom and security.

The attacks may have the tacit or even direct approval of the Iraqi Security Forces, according to Ali Hill who runs a London-based, Iraqi LGBT. Didn't our tax dollars finance those Iraqi Security forces? Read the rest of this post...