Mike Tidmus

Some tragic news this Saturday morning about our gay brothers in Iraq from friends Mike Rogers at PageOneQ and Andy Harley at UK Gay News:

Gays killed in Baghdad as clerics urge clampdown

by Reuters North American News Service

BAGHDAD, April 4 (Reuters) – Two gay men were killed in Baghdad’s Sadr City slum, a local official said on Saturday, and police said they had found the bodies of four more after clerics urged a crackdown on a perceived spread of homosexuality.

Homosexuality is prohibited almost everywhere in the Middle East, but conditions have become especially dangerous for gays and lesbians in Iraq since the rise of religious militias after U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein six years ago.

“Two young men were killed on Thursday. They were sexual deviants. Their tribes killed them to restore their family honour,” a Sadr City official who declined to be named said.

The police source who declined to be named said the bodies of four gay men were unearthed in Sadr City on March 25, each bearing a sign reading “pervert” in Arabic on their chests.

Regular readers will recall a story earlier this week about the possibility of executions in Iraq. Kilian Melloy at Edge contacted the US State Department and reported this statement:

A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department who works at the Iraqi Desk and spent a year in the war-torn country told EDGE that the story has no merit. “Homosexuality is not a crime in Iraq,” said John Fleming, the public affairs officer for the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. 

That is contradicted by this statement from the Reuters article at PageOneQ:

Homosexual acts are punishable by up to seven years in prison in Iraq. A gay Iraqi man said any alleged crimes should be left to the law to deal with.

If Iraqi justice follows the pattern we’ve witnessed in Iran’s horrific treatment of gay men, then the modus operandi involves rounding up the gays, jailing and torturing them, falsely charging them with crimes ranging from rape to murder, and publicly executing them before cheering throngs of citizens.

We need to make sure the US State Department has a clue about what’s really going on under their noses. Drop them a note here at their hand-dandy comment form: US State Department.

Earlier posts:

• Support the GLBT Iraqis
• Stop the Iraqi gay executions
  

Tip: PageOneQ, UK Gay News

UPDATE (4 April 11:27 am): Veteran journalist Rex Wockner sent a link to an AP account confirming the killing of two gay Iraqis last Thursday:

Iraqi police: 2 gay men killed in Baghdad slum

By SAMEER N. YACOUB – 3 hours ago

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi police say the bodies of two gay men have been found in Baghdad’s Shiite slum of Sadr City after a leading cleric repeatedly condemned homosexuality.

A police official says the two men were believed killed Thursday by relatives who were shamed by their behavior.

The killings come after Shiite cleric Sattar al-Battat repeatedly condemned homosexuality during prayers, saying Islam prohibits homosexuality.