Militias in Iraq are rounding up gays, slitting and removing pieces of their throats, cutting off their genitals and gluing their anuses shut. Signs are then attached to their displayed, mutilated bodies reading ‘pervert’ in Arabic and their bodies then dumped into garbage cans. “Fears that Iraqi men’s masculinity is under threat” is the motivation for violent action taken against gays in Iraq. Victims families are also to blame for carrying out honour killings because ‘unmanly’ behaviour shames the family/tribe.
From The National Post.
Rights activists say Iraqi gays targeted for death by militias
Aseel Kami and Mohammed Abbas, Reuters Published: Monday, August 17, 2009
BAGHDAD – Iraqi militias are conducting a campaign of torture and murder against men suspected of homosexual activity, a leading rights group said on Monday, adding that government security forces may be involved.
New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the killings began earlier this year in the poor Sadr City district of Baghdad, once ruled by Shi’ite Muslim militias, and had since spread to many cities across Iraq.
“The killers invade homes and pick people up in the street, witnesses and survivors said, interrogating them before murdering them to extract the names of other potential victims,” the rights group said in a statement. Continue Reading →
