Anti-Gay Gangs Terrorize Iraq

Graffiti in a neighborhood in Najaf: “Death to the People of Lot.” “People of Lot” is a derogatory term in Arabic for men who engage in homosexual conduct, derived from the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Militias are targeting gay men in a killing campaign, ignored by police and prosecutors, that belies promises of security

by Scott Long, Director, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Rights Division
August 19, 2009

Who rules Iraq? If you ask Baghdad officials or the Obama administration's proconsuls, they will tell you: a democratically elected Iraqi government, a triumphant product of the "purple revolution" that reflects the will of Iraq's people.

If you ask Mashal, a shopkeeper from Baghdad's al-Sha'ab neighbourhood, he has a different answer.

"Four men came into the shop," he told us about one awful evening in April. "They pulled out guns. They were the Mahdi army.

"The place they took me to was very close to a mosque or actually in the courtyard - I could hear the call to prayer very clearly. When they hauled me out of the car, they beat me unconscious.

read more here: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/08/19/anti-gay-gangs-terrorise-iraq

and more here: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/08/17/iraq.homosexual.killings/index.html?iref=newssearch

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This is so sad what is going on in the middle east..