www.pinkpaper.com (for the current edition with this in)

OutRage! news Service Dec 6th... (pic links at end of text)

Five gay activists kidnapped in Baghdad

Gay fashion store owner disappears

Two lesbians and child murdered in Najaf

Four barbers abducted from shop popular with gays

Fundamentalist death squads target queers

London and Baghdad – 6 December 2006

Five gay activists were abducted at gun-point by Iraqi police in
Baghdad on 9 November. Nothing has been heard of them since then. It
is feared they may have been murdered by death squads operating under
the cover of the Iraqi police.

The kidnapped men are Amjad 27, Rafid 29, Hassan 24, Ayman 19 and Ali
21. All were members of Iraq’s clandestine gay rights movement, Iraqi
LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender).

“For the last few months they had been documenting the killing of
lesbians and gays, relaying details of homophobic executions to our
office in London, and providing safe houses and support to queers
fleeing the death squads,” said Ali Hili, a gay Iraqi Muslim who is
head of Iraqi LGBT and Middle East spokesperson for the British gay
human rights group OutRage!

At the time of the police raid, the five men were holding a secret
meeting in a safe house in the al-Shaab district of Baghdad. They were
communicating with Mr Hili.

“Suddenly there was a lot of noise, then the connection ended,”
recalls Mr Hili.

Just days after these five activists were abducted, Haydar Kamel, aged
35, the owner of famous men’s clothing shop in the al-Karada district
of Baghdad, was kidnapped near his home in Sadr city. The kidnappers
were members of the Mahdi army, an Islamist militia loyal to
fundamentalist leader Muqtada al-Sadr.

“Haydar had previously received death threats because of rumours about
his alleged homosexuality. For many months, he had financially
supported several men who were in hiding after they had been
threatened by death squads because of claims that they were gay,” said
Mr Hili.

Another recent raid was on the Jar al-Qamar barber shop in the
al-Karada district of Baghdad. It was popular with gay men, which is
probably the reason it was targeted. All four employees were arrested
and taken away by the Iraqi police. They have disappeared.

It is feared that these 10 kidnapped men have been summarily
executed.

“These disappearances are the latest ‘sexual cleansing’ operations
mounted by extremist Islamist death squads, many of whom have
infiltrated the Iraqi police,” notes Mr Hili. He has obtained details
of the kidnappings direct by phone and email from his underground
Iraqi LGBT activist colleagues in Baghdad.

“They are systematically targeting gays and lesbians for
extra-judicial execution, as part of their so-called moral
purification campaign. The aim of the death squads is the creation of
a fundamentalist state, along the lines of the religious dictatorship
in Iran,” said Mr Hili.

Earlier, in June this year, extreme lslamist death squads burst into
the home of two lesbians in the city of Najaf. They shot them dead,
slashed their throats, and also murdered a young child the lesbians
had rescued from the sex trade.

The two women, both in their mid-30s, were members of Iraqi LGBT. They
were providing a safe house for gay men on the run from death squads.
By sheer luck, none of the men being given shelter in the house were
at home when the assassins struck. They have now fled to Baghdad and
are hiding in an Iraqi LGBT safe house in the suburbs.

“These homophobic kidnappings and murders are a snapshot of the
rapidly growing power and menace of fundamentalist death squads,”
added Mr Hili.

“Gays are not their only targets. They enforce a harsh interpretation
of Sharia law, summarily executing people for listening to western pop
music, wearing shorts or jeans, drinking alcohol, selling videos,
working in a barber’s shop, homosexuality, dancing, having a Sunni
name, adultery and, in the case of women, not being veiled or walking
in the street unaccompanied by a male relative.

“Two militias are doing most of the killing. They are the armed wings
of parties in the Bush and Blair-backed Iraqi government. Badr is the
militia of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI),
which is the leading political force in Baghdad’s government
coalition. Madhi is the militia of Muqtada al-Sadr.

“Both militias want to establish an Iranian-style clerical tyranny.
They have a perverted, corrupt and violent misinterpretation of
Islam.

“The allied occupation of Iraq is bad enough. But victory for the
Madhi or Badr militias would result in a reign of religious terror
many times worse.

“The execution of lesbian and gay Iraqis by extreme Islamist death
squads and militias is symptomatic of the fate that will befall all
Iraqis if the fundamentalists continue to gain influence. The summary
execution of queers is a warning of the barbarism to come.

“Saddam Hussein was a tyrant. It is good that he is no longer in
power. I don’t want him back. But under Saddam discrete homosexuality
was usually tolerated. There was no danger of gay people being
assassinated in the street by religious fanatics.

“Since Saddam’s overthrow, the violent persecution of lesbians and
gays is commonplace. It is actively encouraged by Iraq’s leading
Muslim cleric, the British and US-backed Grand Ayatollah Ali
al-Sistani. In late 2005, he issued a fatwa ordering the execution of
gay Iraqis. His followers in the extreme Islamist militias are now
systematically assassinating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
people,” said Mr Hili.

“Despite the great danger involved, Iraqi LGBT has established a
clandestine network of gay activists inside Iraq’s major cities,
including Baghdad, Najaf, Karbala, Hilla and Basra,” said Peter
Tatchell of the UK-based LGBT rights group OutRage!, which is working
with Iraqi LGBT.

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

“The world ignores the fate of gay Iraqis at its peril. Their fate
today is the fate of all Iraqis tomorrow,” said Mr Tatchell.

* Iraqi LGBT is appealing for funds to help the work of their members
in Iraq. They don’t yet have a bank account. The UK gay rights group
OutRage! is helping them. Cheques should be made payable to
“OutRage!”, with a cover note marked “For Iraqi LGBT”, and sent to
OutRage!, PO Box 17816, London SW14 8WT, England, UK.

More information:

Ali Hili – 079819 594 53

Peter Tatchell – 020 7403 1790

Web:  http://iraqilgbtuk.blogspot.com/

Photos of gay victims of Islamist death squads:

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/outrage/sets/72057594087304767/


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