Shia Death Squads Target Iraqi Gays...

[Peter Frank]

Three years into occupation, U.S. officials ignore pleas of repression even worse than under Saddam

BY DOUG IRELAND

Following a death-to-gays fatwa issued last October by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, death squads of the Badr Corps have been systematically targeting gay Iraqis for persecution and execution, gay Iraqis say. But when they ask for help and protection from U.S. occupying authorities in the Green Zone, the secure area officialdom has carved out within Baghdad, gays Iraqis are met with indifference and derision.

“The Badr Corps is committed to the sexual cleansing of Iraq,” said Ali Hili, a 33-year-old gay Iraqi exile in London who, with some 30 other gay Iraqis who have fled to the United Kingdom, five months ago founded the Abu Nawas Group there to support persecuted gay Iraqis. The group is named for a revered eighth-century classical poet of Arab and Persian descent known throughout Middle East cultures and famous for his poems in praise of same-sex love.

“We believe that the Badr Corps is receiving advice from Iran on how to target gay people,” Hili told Gay City News.<snip>

http://www.gaycitynews.com/gcn_511/iraq.html

[cantstandbush]

1. I'm sure Robertson, Falwell, Hagee, and Dobson are taking lessons

for this example. And i am not just making the statement lightly. These fananticals are capable of anything just examine their past statements on killing doctors who perform abortions for example.

[cali]

6. Yeah, but that's theoretical

and it's not remotely close to becoming a reality anytime soon. What's happening in Iraq is horrific and real. Why not comment on that instead?

[cantstandbush]

17. Because what CAN happen here in the US means more to me now. n/t

[Peter Frank]

18. Bush is directly responsible for the deaths of gays & lesbians in Iraq...

...and the anti-gay atmosphere here.

[acmavm]

2. Sounds like what certain people to be our 'official' policy here

in this country as well.

[seriousstan]

3. Death to converts and gays? Gotta love a "religion of peace".

Wait for the gay/convert killing apologists in .....5.....4.....3.....2...

[Teaser]

4. Most religions don't qualify as "religions of peace"

despite their promotional literature.

[demosincebirth]

14. amen!

[baby_mouse]

5. Mission Accomplished. NT.

[Peter Frank]

7. Gays & Lesbians Were Pretty Much Tolerated Under Saddam's Secular Rule...

...but now:

<snip>The Ayatollah Sistani, the 77-year-old Iranian-born cleric who is the supreme Shia authority in Iraq, is revered by SCIRI as its spiritual leader. His anti-gay fatwa-available on Sistani's official Web site-says that “people involved” in homosexuality “should be killed in the worst, most severe way of killing.”

Speaking by telephone from London, Hili said that “there is a very, very serious threat to life for gay people in Iraq today. We are receiving regular reports from our extensive network of contacts with underground gay activists and gay people in Iraq-intimidation, beatings, kidnappings, and murders of gays have become an almost daily occurrence. The Badr Corps was killing gay people even before the ayatollah's fatwa, but Sistani's murderous homophobic incitement has given a green light to all Shia Muslims to hunt and kill lesbians and gay men.”

Now, Hili said, “when Badr thugs attack and beat up a gay person in the street, crowds of passers-by gather around to cheer them on.”

“Badr Corps agents have a network of informers who, among other things, target alleged immoral behavior,” Hili continued. “They kill gays, unveiled women, prostitutes, people who sell or drink alcohol, and those who listen to Western music and wear Western fashions.”

Badr militants are entrapping gay men via Internet chat rooms,” Hili said. “They arrange a date, and then beat and kill the victim. Males who are unmarried by the age of 30 or 35 are placed under surveillance on suspicion of being gay, as are effeminate men. They will be investigated and warned to get married.

“Badr will typically give them a month to change their ways. If they don't change their behavior, or if they fail to show evidence that they plan to get married, they will be arrested, disappear, and eventually be found dead. The bodies are usually discovered with their hands bound behind their back, blindfolds over their eyes, and bullet wounds to the back of the head.”<snip>

http://www.gaycitynews.com/gcn_511/iraq.html

[leQ]

13. gee, with the taliban still in afghanistand, and now badr corps in iraq

i can see the progress bush talks about.

/sarcasm

[BiggJawn]

36. Gee, even *I* would be killed in Iraq...

"... Males who are unmarried by the age of 30 or 35 are placed under surveillance on suspicion of being gay, as are effeminate men. They will be investigated and warned to get married.

?Badr will typically give them a month to change their ways. If they don't change their behavior, or if they fail to show evidence that they plan to get married, they will be arrested, disappear, and eventually be found dead. "

Don't suppose I can get a dispensation for trying marriage twice and finally deciding that I don't know howto choose a wife?

Bet there's peopele in THIS country who "wonder" about me. Guess I'll find out when Robertson's Taliborn-agains take over...

"Freedom on the March" my ass.

[LeftHander]

8. Christian RIght Death Squads Target U.S. Gays

Coming soon to a fundie church near you.

[Psephos]

9. Most Christians preach exactly the opposite

Unfortunately, it's the fringe fundies who get all the press.

Peace.

[Peter Frank]

10. But the fringe controls all three branches of our government...

[Psephos]

11. Uncool to tar the many with a brush deserved by the few

But that can be said about any prejudice or sweeping generalization.

I like the graphic, btw.

Peace.

[Romulus]

12. bumpersticker?

I would slap that on my car in a heartbeat . . . and I am anti-bumbersticker!

[Peter Frank]

16. Here you go...

Religious Fundamentalism
bumper sticker (white)
$3.99

http://www.cafepress.com/bush_doggers.42634932

[demosincebirth]

15. We all get lumped together here.

[paul_fromatlanta]

23. I don't believe this story is accurate.

Sistani has never before issued a fatwa calling for violence and no one has citred an original arab source for the fatwa.

[LynnTheDem]

35. Al Sistani called homosexuality a "capital crime"; meaning death sentance.

He never "issued a fatwa" per se, but his calling homosexuality a capital crime has been taken as a green light for killing gays in Iraq.

And that's fact.

[paul_fromatlanta]

37. He quoted the koran which is different

He was asked a question about Islam and he answered it - that's not the same as trying to have gays killed which is what the story says. My point was that the story is wrong, I am not defending the gay bashing.

Islamic law is barbaric. For example they are supposed to kill anyone who stops believing or converts to another religion. But this cleric was not trying to stir up violence - he has enough problems in Iraq.

[IndianaGreen]

38. Al-Sistani wants a Shia Islamic government in power

while he doesn't want the mullahs running the government, as they do in Iran, he wants Sharia law to be the law of the land which means that being gay is a crime punishable by death.

We should put Saddam back in power!

[paul_fromatlanta]

40. Saddam invaded Iran and gassed his own people

Not to mention all the torture and killings. I don't understand how anybody can suggest putting him back in power.

But you are right that the eventual result on the invasion will likely be Sharia law - we're seeing in Afghanistan that people don't respond to being invaded by giving up their traditions. We learned the wrong lesson from Germany and Japan after WW2. I suspect that less than a fourth of the American population would have supported the iraq invasion if they had known there were no WMDs and that then end result would be a legal system where you could be executed for converting to Christianity.

Democracy doesn't mean they will choose to be like us.

[IndianaGreen]

41. The United States was set up as a Republic not a democracy

The Framers of the Constitution knew the dangers of majority rule, which would lead to dictatorship if minority rights were not protected, and the danger of a unitarian government, which is why they established 3 co-equal branches of government.

The Framers were very wise men for their time!

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Peter Frank]

21. Please don't denigrate our troops...

They're there because they do what soldiers are supposed to do (and a small percentage are themselves homosexual).

The blame lies with the so called "leadership."

[IndianaGreen]

22. Troops are not exempt from the crimes they commit

Haven't you heard of the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal?

[Peter Frank]

28. Of course your point is valid...

...but this far from exonerates the leaders who create the atmosphere wherein the abuses occurr.

[Peter Frank]

30. Where'd you go? n/t

[IndianaGreen]

39. Our military is largely homophobic and religious fundamentalist

I don't expect anything good out of them!

Many of them would enjoy murdering gays in our own country.

[6000eliot]

20. "Freedom is on the march" n/t

[Peter Frank]

25. Freedom for everyone but clear eyed observers... n/t

[951-Riverside]

24. 1st a man is going to be executed in Afghanistan for being christian

women in Iraq & Afghanistan are beaten to death for not covering their heads & now gays are being executed in Iraq.

WHILE BUSH CONTINUES TO CALL THIS FREEDOM UNCHALLENGED!

WAKE THE FUCK UP AMERICA!

[Peter Frank]

26. Why isn't this thread getting recommended?...

Isn't government sponsored gay execution newsworthy???

[IndianaGreen]

27. K&R

:grouphug:

[Peter Frank]

29. Thank You!

Cheney/Bush is responsible for "Gay Cleansing" in Iraq. On American soil, these are adjudicated as "Hate Crimes."

[Peter Frank]

31. I Am Severely Pissed Off...

Not only does Bush get away with divisive politics at home -- he actually undid a cultural evolution in Iraq.

I couldn't be angrier if I myself were Gay. Once it becomes OK to exclude anyone from society for any reason -- it becomes OK to depersonalize the excluded. After that -- killing is only a few baby steps away.

[Peter Frank]

32. I am very disappointed with the absence of outrage to this news... n/t

[dusty64]

33. freedom is on the

fuckin march all right, bet the extremist "christians" are creamin their jeans and polishin their guns. Of course this is EXACTLY what the reconstructionist manufacturers of our "voting" machines have in mind.

[LynnTheDem]

34. Now the MFing rightwingnuts will applaud; a GOOD story out of Iraq.

:sarcasm: