Death Squads Carry Out Fatwa Against Gays In Iraq

Last weekend, Advance Indiana reported how the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani of Iraq had issued a fatwa against gays and lesbians in Iraq, ordering them "killed, in the worst, most severe way of killing." We tipped off our friends at PageOneQ, who put their international reporter, Doug Ireland on the story. PageOne Q is now reporting that Doug Ireland will report in tomorrow's weekly edition of Gay City News that death squads are hunting down and killing gays in Iraq in response to al-Sistani's fatwa. Ireland's report says, in part:

The Badr Corps is committed to the 'sexual cleansing' of Iraq," a 33 year old gay Iraqi exile in London told Ireland. Since the SCIRI's spiritual leader, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistni -- the highest Shia religious authority -- issued a fatwa ordering gays assassinated in "the worst, most severe way of killing," the Badr Corps in Iraq has begun to use the Internet to hunt down and kill Iraqi gays.

The murdered Iraqi gays "are usually discovered with their hands bound behind their back, blindfolds over their eyes, and bullet wounds to the back of the head," Iraqi exile Ali Hili, coordinator for the London-based Abu Nawas Group, an organization of gay Iraqis in exile -- tells Ireland. In one case, the article explains, a transsexual was beaten and burned to death in an area of Baghdad.

Hili explains that, "intimidation, beatings, kidnappings and murders of gays have become an almost daily occurrence.”

Ireland's interviews include one with Tahseen, an underground activist in Baghdad, who is hiding 5 gays in his home and reports on the disappearance and killings of a number of gay men. PageOneQ is reporting that both Ireland and Ali Hili will appear on radio and TV news broadcast "Democracy Now" Thursday morning from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. EST to discuss this troubling report. For more information on the broadcast, click here.