Iraq: Torture, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment of LGBT People

Hat tip: Faz / Iraqi LGBT

The following is a translation of a story from Alarabiya, a UAE-based media network, which was published on its Arabic website a few hours ago. While IGLHRC has not verified all of the allegations, many are consistent with patterns of human rights violations being reported from within the country. As a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Iraqi government has an obligation to protect the right to life (Article 6) and the right of all its citizens “to be free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” (Article 7).

On Friday April 17, IGLHRC sent a letter to the Iraqi Minister of Human Rights, asking her to take specific measures to protect LGBT Iraqis. On April 8, IGLHRC and Human Rights Watch submitted an urgent appeal to the Special Procedures of the United Nations to ask for an investigation. In 2006, after a wave of violence targeted LGBT Iraqis, IGLHRC sent a letter to then Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, requesting that the U.S. government conduct a thorough investigation of the violations.

IGLHRC will continue to monitor the situation and gather more evidence about the recent wave of violence against Iraqi LGBT people. You can follow and discuss this story on IGLHRC's blog.

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Bodies of 7 Gays in Baghdad Morgue

http://www.alarabiya.net/save_print.php?print=1&cont_id=71071

By Hayyan Neyuf - Dubai / Ali Al-Iraqi - Baghdad

A prominent Iraqi human rights activist says that Iraqi militia have deployed a painful form of torture against homosexuals by closing their anuses using "Iranian gum.” ... Yina Mohammad told Alarabiya.net that, "Iraqi militias have deployed an unprecedented form of torture against homosexuals by using very strong glue that will close their anus."

According to her, the new substance "is known as the American hum, which is an Iranian-manufactured glue that if applied to the skin, sticks to it and can only be removed by surgery. After they glue the anuses of homosexuals, they give them a drink that causes diarrhea. Since the anus is closed, the diarrhea causes death. Videos of this form of torture are being distributed on mobile cell phones in Iraq ."

According to this human rights activist, for the past 3 weeks a crackdown on homosexuals has been going on based on a religious decree that demands their death; dozens have been targeted. She says that the persecution of homosexuals is not confined to the Shiite clerics. Some Sunni leaders have also declared the death penalty for sodomy on satellite channels."

63 People Tortured

According to Hassan from the Iraqi LGBT group in London, attacks against homosexuals have been abundant in Shiite neighborhoods, especially poor regions and remote areas such as the southern provinces and the Hurriya, Sho'la and Sadr neighborhoods in Baghdad. So far, 63 members of the group have been tortured.

Hassan also confirmed the use of "Iranian Gum" in the torture process, adding that, "I talked to many young men who have been tortured by this method. They went to the hospital for treatment and in some cases they were refused treatment." According to Hassan, "all religious leaders, whether Sunni or Shiite, call for the eradication of homosexuals, but the Shiites are the ones who are most involved in these attacks."

Vigilante Groups

According to newspaper reports from local news sources in Sadr City in East Baghdad, a previously unknown group "Ahl al-Haq (the followers of Truth) have stepped up the persecution of Iraqi homosexuals after the murder of a number of them in the past few days. The news sources say that, "3 lists, each with the name of 10 gay men were circulated in Sadr City for a few hours." The lists included a quote saying, "You, prostitutes, we will punish you!"

7 Bodies in Bagdad's Morgue

The Alarabiya reporter visited the Baghdad Morgue in Bab-al-Moazaam in central Baghdad, where the Neman Mohsen, the medical examiner, confirmed that they have the bodies of 7 homosexuals in the morgue. He said, "We were not able to identify the culprits who dumped the bodies in front of the morgue and fled, without being seen."

He explained, "There were bodies with gunshots in the head and chest and the rest of the body without any obvious causes of death."

Khalaf Abdul Hussein, from the Legal Affairs Office at the Police Station in Sadr City, told Alarabiya: "the extra-judicial killing of any citizen is a crime punishable by law. No one has the right to become a substitute for judicial authorities or executive authorities, and if there are complaints against individuals, there is law and there are police and there are government agencies. No group or class has the authority to punish people instead of the state."

He said: "We, like everyone else, have heard rumours about these cases, but we can't comment on something that is not evidence, and there is no evidence for these crimes either in terms of motivation or in terms of the nature of the criminal acts. We do not know the motives of the killers and we do not know the intentions of those killed."

“Son of a Bitch”

Officials and tribal leaders in Sadr City are reluctant to provide details about the murder of homosexuals. However, Sheikh Hashem Mokhani, one of the tribal elders in the city, said: "The people refer to these sexual perverts as ‘son of a bitch', but most of the victims were not residents of Sadr City. They used to hang out in a [gay] cafe, on Palestine Street in Baghdad."

Sheik Salal Al-kaabi, one of the elders of Sadr City says: "we have heard that the tribes, to whom these perverts belonged, declared their lives worthless and allowed their death, but we have also heard that an organization calling itself the followers of Truth (ahl-al Haq) are responsible for the murders and have written on the chest of victim a sentence that reads: This is the fate of a son of a bitch."

Website : http://iraqilgbtuk.blogspot.com/

Bush gave up golf in solidarity with the troops in Iraq !

Its all to easy to mock Bush, but hey credit where it is due; he has made great sacrifices to support the troops out in Iraq. 

While families, partners and friends see loved ones return home in a body bag, good ole George wants them to know that he isn't having fun :

In an interview with the Politico website, the president said he took the decision because of the war. "I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf. I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."

Bush said he laid down his clubs after the August 2003 bombing of United Nations offices in Baghdad that killed the UN's top official in the country, Sergio Vieira de Mello. "I remember when de Mello got killed as a result of these murderers taking this good man's life. I was playing golf - I think in central Texas - and they pulled me off the golf course and I said, 'It's just not worth it any more'.

Seems some are none too impressed by this:

Brandon Friedman, a veteran US infantry officer who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, told the Press Association: "Thousands of Americans have given up a lot more than golf for this war. For President Bush to imply that he somehow stands in solidarity with families of American soldiers by giving up golf is disgraceful. It's an insult to all Americans and a slap in the face to our troops' families."

They just don't realise what a fine president they have. Commies the lot of em.

"Oil wealth belongs to the Iraqi people"

There is an excellent piece by Ewa Jasiewicz in today's Sunday Independent about the big oil multinationals in Iraq aren't having an easy time getting their thieving paws on the oil.

There has been resistence by the Iraqi people to stop this happening especially from the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (Ifou) who went on strike in June this year.


Hassan Jumaa Awad, Ifou president: "We will continue our efforts to serve our members and defend our oil wealth, no matter what the cost."

Focus on this David Miliband.....

Like everything else stage managed and choreographed at LP conference, David Miliband, in his first speech as foreign secretary, admitted that the government was "scarred" due to their decision to invade Iraq.

"Whatever the rights and wrongs - and there have been both - we have got to focus on the future. We need to continue to support the development of an effective Iraqi security force. We need to keep our promise to all Iraqis that they will have an economic stake in the future of the country."

What Miliband elects to keep out of his speech is what a devastated state Iraq is in. His speech was full of grand gestures and like any imperialist supporting warmonger, glosses over the very very big wrongs of this conflict by telling us to look to the future. Well, tell that to the Iraqis.

Oxfam published a report in the summer about the humanitarian crisis in Iraq. Four million people are in dire need of assistance. More than two million people are displaced in Iraq and another 2 million displaced in neighbouring countries such as Jordan and Syria.

Some Iraqis are refused asylum in the UK and sent back yet there was media attention given to 91 Iraqi interpreters who worked for the occupiers to be given asylum. Before anyone condemns me I agree these interpreters should be given asylum but there are double standards at play as why not give asylum to other Iraqis?

The infrastructure as well as health and education has been trashed. No reconstruction of water supplies. There are ecological and health implications with the impact of depleted uranium and there has been no practical clear-up of cluster bombs.The occupiers brought about divide and rule as Iraqis have to carry ID cards differentiating between Shia and Sunni muslims. The operation of death squads in Iraq with the likes of John Negroponte in the background (and he has much experience of organising death squads!) and the occupiers stoking sectarian violence.

There has been blackout on media coverage on air strikes in built up areas such as Sadr City in Baghdad (and the terrible war crimes committed in Fallujah). And now we see the purging of natural resources with the West arm twisting the Iraqi government to push through the Hydrocarbon Law and allow production sharing agreements to go through.

We must demand the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq (unlike the mealy-mouthed demands that came out of the toothless Iraq Commission) and keep their thieving paws off the oil.

That's what Miliband should focus on.............

Iraq and gay executions

Yes I'm going on about this again. Tough, I will keep on as well.

Post over at IRAQI LGBT :

“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).

“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.

There are a number of examples given in the post of people killed and their pictures. Pop over and read about them.

Trouble is both the pro and anti war left show very little interest in the murder of gay people, which appears to be carried out by both the police and military and the so called resistance that some like to applaud . Excuses are made for the reactionary elements on both sides .

More info on IRAQI LBGT . There is an appeal for money to support the work in Iraq:

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.

Oh and why not link to the blog as well .


Picture : Men suspected of being gay were gunned down on 20 March 2006 in the Iraqi city of Ramadi.