Iraqi lesbians and gays continue to be subjected a systematic reign of terror by Shia death squads, says Ali Hili, the coordinator of the human rights group Iraqi LGBT. “The government of Iraq refuses to crack down on the killers or to take any action to protect its gay citizens. It is a regime that is dominated by Shia fanatics and homophobes,” he pointed out. “Supporters of the fundamentalist Sadr and Badr militias boast that they are cleansing Iraq of what they call ‘sexual perverts'. They are open about terrorising gay Iraqis to make them flee the country and murdering those who fail to leave. "Their goal is a queer-free, pro-homophobic Iraq. They are dragging our country back to the dark ages,” said the London-based Mr Hili, who is also Middle East spokesperson for the gay human rights group, OutRage! “Some members of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government are linked to the anti-gay death squads. They are the political representatives of the Muqtada al-Sadr movement and the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). Both these parties have militias, respectively the Mahdi army and the Badr brigades, who are responsible for the execution-style killing of lesbian and gay Iraqis – and the murder of many other Iraqis, including Sunni Muslims, trade unionists, unveiled women, journalists and men wearing shorts, jeans or western-style haircuts. “The murder of gay Iraqis has the support of highly influential religious leaders, such as Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. He issued a fatwa in late 2005, calling for the execution of gay people in the ‘most severe way possible'. After international protests, he removed the fatwa from his website, but the fatwa itself has not been rescinded. It remains in force and is the spiritual sanction for the death squads to murder gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people,” said Mr Hili. The United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) has corroborated Iraqi LGBT's claims of ‘sexual cleansing' by the death squads and Islamist courts: "Armed Islamic groups and militias have been known to be particularly hostile towards homosexuals, frequently and openly engaging in violent campaigns against them," January's UNAMI report said. More on this story, with a list of Iraqi LGBT victims of death squads, is on the link below. Ref: UK Gay News (m)
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 4th April 2007 - 12:00pm