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Gay Iraqis Fear for Their Lives

Human Rights Watch attempts to save persecuted gays from murder

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 5, 2009 4:41 PM CDT

(Newser) – Iraqi society is overwhelmingly  homophobic, but that prejudice took a back seat to more pressing issues while war was raging. Now, as Shia militias find themselves with time on their hands, they appear to have turned to a perceived internal problem, “to make society clean from bad things.” How can gay Iraqis avoid murder, abduction, and rape at the hands of their countrymen? Human Rights Watch, New York reports, is trying to find the answer.

The organization posted information on message boards in Iraq and managed to get a few dozen men out of Baghdad and other cities to safer locations. The situation is not perfect—the refugees complain, perhaps rightly, that they are in limbo. But it could be worse. A relocated man texted a gay friend in Baghdad to see how things were going: “u wouldn’t believe what they’re doing,” his friend replied. “superglue up their arseholes. before u left was nothing.”

Supporters of anti-US cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Supporters of anti-US cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.   (AP Photo)
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Killing gays is halal. We’ll get points in heaven for it. - An anti-gay torturer in Iraq

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 20 comments
Thaddeus
Nov 15, 2009 8:58 AM CST
Wow Jamerican, I can barely see your tiny brain.
Snarfeh
Oct 7, 2009 10:00 AM CDT
I would posit that it has something to do with odds....
Doctor-Zaius
Oct 6, 2009 12:44 PM CDT
This whole Iraq war thing was the cornerstone of the Project for the New American Century. Perhaps you've heard of them?

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