Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released a shocking report into a campaign of violence being carried out against gay men in certain areas of Iraq.
The report is primarily based on research and interviews conducted earlier this year by Rasha Moumneh, researcher for the Middle East/North Africa division of HRW and Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights program at HRW.
Included in the report are chilling accounts from some of the over 50 Iraqi men interviewed, medical doctors and journalists.
While stigma surrounding sexuality and gender in Iraq make it difficult to determine exact figures, it is suggested that hundreds of gay men have been brutally tortured and killed since early 2009.
Militia groups such as Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army are suspected to be behind the campaign as the killings began in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, a stronghold of the Mahdi Army.
The Mahdi Army also actively promotes fears about the ‘third sex’ and the ‘feminisation’ of Iraqi men and has suggested militia action was the remedy.
‘Till now, my friends and I know of 10 or 15 who have been killed, mostly around Sadr City,’ says an unnamed gay doctor interviewed for the report, earlier this year.
‘Day after day they are more prominent. Now it is massive. At first they did it secretly; but now they stop you and search you on the street, in front of others.’
The doctor has since fled the area in fear of his safety.
HRW is urging the Iraqi government to act quickly against militia violence and punish the perpetrators, saying they have a legal obligation under international human rights treaty law.
‘Iraq’s leaders are supposed to defend all Iraqis, not abandon them to armed agents of hate,’ said Scott Long.
‘Turning a blind eye to torture and murder threatens the rights and life of every Iraqi.’
While homosexual acts are not illegal in Iraq and can not be punished under Iraqi law, many militias claim to be enforcing Islamic or Shari’a law.
However, the killings actually violate the traditional practice of Shari’a law as they do not provide for a trial (including testimony and witnesses) and appropriate investigations.
The complete 67-page report can be read at: www.hrw.org/node/85050
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