Scores Of Gay Men Murdered By Iraqi Police

Nearly ninety bloody murders of gay men have occurred in Iraq this year alone. Concerns of the rising HIV rates throughout the country have increased fears among the Iraqi police and security forces who have carried out these murders in some of the country’s most religious areas– including Sadr city. Seven deaths have occurred this month and over 700 murders have taken place since 2004 when militias started to go after these groups. These deaths mostly include murders of gays–including massive honor killings.

Homosexuality is stigmatized in Iraq as many religious groups believe it betrays the Moslem faith. Iraqi government officials have made clear they do not condone the murders.

Human Rights Watch issued a report this week entitled “They Want Us Exterminated”: Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation and Gender in Iraq. The report claims hundreds of gay men have been tortured and killed in Iraq in recent months-many by the nation’s police.

“Iraq’s leaders are supposed to defend all Iraqis, not abandon them to armed agents of hate,” said Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. “Turning a blind eye to torture and murder threatens the rights and life of every Iraqi.”

The report underscores that Iraqi police and security forces have done little to investigate or stop the killings and that authorities have made no arrests or prosecutions. A story highlighted in the report documents a typical murder carried out by the police:

“It was late one night in early April, and they came to take my partner at his parents’ home. Four armed men barged into the house, masked and wearing black. They asked for him by name; they insulted him and took him in front of  his parents. All that, I heard about later from his family.  He was found in the neighborhood the day after. They had thrown his corpse in the garbage. His genitals were cut off and a piece of his throat was ripped out.”

For a full copy of the report, go to: http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2009/08/17/they-want-us-exterminated-0