[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 3



IRAQ:

MORE GAY EXECUTIONS ---- Baghdad refuses to protect gays and denounces UN
report


"Iraqi lesbians and gays continue to be subjected a systematic reign of
terror by Shia death squads. 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," according to
Ali Hili, the coordinator of the human rights group Iraqi LGBT (lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender).

Mr Hili lists below a few examples of the many death squad killings of gay
Iraqis.

"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-Malikis 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website, but the fatwa itself has not been rescinded.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 LGBTs 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," Januarys UNAMI report said.

"There have been a number of assassinations of homosexuals in IraqAt least
five homosexual males were reported to have been kidnapped from Shaab area
in the first week of November (2006) by one of the main militias. The
mutilated body of Amjad, one of the kidnapped, appeared in the same area
after a few days. [We were] also alerted to the existence of religious
courts, supervised by clerics, where homosexuals allegedly would be
'tried,' 'sentenced' to death and then executed," UNAMI said.

This UNAMI report provoked a hostile reaction from the government of Iraq,
which suggested that gay people are unIraqi and unIslamic:

"There was information in the report that we cannot accept here in Iraq.
The report, for example, spoke about the phenomenon of homosexuality and
giving them their rights," said Mr al-Dabbagh, a spokesperson for the
Iraqi government. "Such statements are not suitable to the Iraqi society.
This is rejected. They (the UN) should respect the values and traditions
here in Iraq."

Iraqs many LGBT victims of the death squads

Here are details of a few of the LGBTs who have been murdered in Iraq in
recent months:

"Anwar, aged 34, a taxi driver, was a member of Iraqi LGBT and helped run
one of the groups safe houses in the city of Najaf. He disappeared in
January 2007. He was arrested in his taxi after being stopped at a police
and militia checkpoint. His body was found in March 2007. He had been
subjected to an execution-style killing.

"Nouri, aged 29, a tailor, was kidnapped in the city of Karbala in
February 2007. He had received many death threats by letter and phone in
the past, accusing him of leading a gay life. He was found dead a few days
later, with his body mutilated and his head severed.

"Hazim, a 21-year-old man, was taken by police officers from his house in
Baghdad in February 2007. He was well-known to be gay. After threats
because of his homosexuality, his family was forced to leave their home.
Hazims body was subsequently found with several shots to the head.

"Sayf, a gay 25-year-old, worked for the Iraqi police as a translator. He
was kidnapped in the Al-Adhamya suburb by black masked men in Ministry of
Interior security force uniforms who drove a marked police car. Almost
certainly they were members of the Badr militia which has infiltrated the
Interior Ministry and police. Sayfs body was found several days later,
with his head cut off.

"Khaldon, a 45 year old gay man lived in al-Hurriya, a mainly Shia
neighborhood of Baghdad. He worked as a chef. The Sadr militia, the Mahdi
army, kidnapped him in November 2006. His decaying corpse was found in
February 2007.

"Khalid, a 19 year old gay man, a college student who lived in al-Kadomya,
was kidnapped in December 2006. Three months later, his family was handed
his tortured and burned remains.

"Hasan Sabeh, a 34 year old transvestite - also known as Tamara - worked
in the fashion industry designing womens clothes. He lived in the
al-Mansor district of Baghdad. Hasan was seized in the street by an
Islamist death squad and hanged in public on the holy Shia religious day,
11 January 2007. His body was mutilated and cut to pieces. When his
brother-in-law tried to defend him, he was also murdered.

"Four gay friends had been receiving threatening letters at their Baghdad
houses. All four were arrested on 26 December 2006 by militia at a
roadside checkpoint. They were interrogated about whether they were
Sunnis. Their identity cards showed that three of the men were Shia. These
three men were released after several hours of interrogation. The fourth
man, Samer, a 26 year old a Sunni who lived in Zayona, was later found
with gunshot wounds to his head, his eyes blindfolded and his hands tied
behind his back. His body showed marks of torture and many burns. It is
not clear whether Samer was executed because he was Sunni or gay or both.

"Alan Thomas, was a 23 year old, Christian gay Iraqi who lived in
al-Gadeer, a Shia majority district of Baghdad. He received many threats
for being gay and was eventually kidnapped and executed by Shia death
squads in late 2006. His older sister spoke to me over the phone from
Baghdad; explaining how the murder of her only brother caused the death of
their sick elderly mother. She told me: 'The new Iraqi evil regime does
not provide effective protection to the population of Iraq. Shia militias
act in collusion with security force gangs to take revenge on the Sunni's
and other minorities.'

"Occasionally, some victims of the fundamentalists have been able to buy
their survival. Hamid A, a 44 year old bisexual man, from the Al-Talibya
district. He was kidnapped twice by the Sadr militia. The first instance
was in April 2006 when he, his nephew and his brother were kidnapped and
tortured. He was released in May 2006 after his tribe members paid a huge
ransom to save his life and the lives of his relatives. Hamid was
kidnapped for a second time in November 2006 by the same Sadr militia,
when an informant reported that he was drinking alcohol and that he was
suspected of being gay. He was held in a big office in Sadr city, along
with other detainees - most of them Sunnis and Christians. Again, he was
ransomed and is now in hiding; a rare survivor of the Sadr militia
interrogation centres.

"Heterosexual friends of gays are also executed. This happened to Majid
Sahi, aged 28, a civil engineer. He had been helping Iraqi LGBT members in
Baghdad. Abducted by the Badr militia from his home, they objected to his
association with gay Iraqis. His family was advised by the Badr forces
that their sons "immoral behavior" was the reason for his kidnapping. His
body was found in Baghdad, with bullet wounds in the back of his head, on
23 February 2007.

Photos of some of these victims are available here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/outrage/sets/72157600042494571/

"Despite the great danger involved, Iraqi LGBT has established a
clandestine network of lesbian and gay activists inside Iraq's major
cities, including Baghdad, Najaf, Karbala, Hilla and Basra," reports Peter
Tatchell of OutRage!, who is working closely with Ali Hili and Iraqi LGBT.

"These heroic activists are helping gay people on the run from
fundamentalist death squads; hiding them in safe houses in Baghdad, and
helping them escape to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon," said Mr Tatchell.

Ali Hili is making an appeal for donations to fund the work of Iraqi LGBT:

"Iraqi LGBT needs donations to help gay people in Iraq who are fleeing the
death squads. We need money for safe houses, food, electricity, security
protection and clothing - and to help pay the phone bills of members of
the Iraqi LGBT group. They are sending us information about the homophobic
killings, at great risk to their own lives.

"Many of the people we are helping had nothing but the clothes on their
backs, when they fled the attacks by fundamentalist militias.

"We are also paying for medication for members who are HIV positive.
Otherwise, they will not get treatment. If it is discovered that they have
HIV, they will surely be killed," said Mr Hili.

The UK-based gay rights group OutRage! is working with Iraqi LGBT to
support its work.

(source: uruknet.info)