By Nykoel Dinardo
Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq – On August 17, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report titled “They Want Us Exterminated: Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation, and Gender in Iraq” which details the attacks that gay men in Iraq have suffered in recent months.

According to the report, militias in Iraq are persecuting gay men, torturing and killing them.  Although there have been reports about attacks by several small militias, HRW believes that most of the attacks are being perpetrated by the Mahdi Army, a militia led by Moqtada al-Sadr.  To support this claim, HRW cites the facts that the attacks seem centered around Sadr City, a slum in Baghdad that is named after al-Sadr’s martyred father.  

Moreover, Sadrist Mosques and officials of the Mahdi Army have been spreading warnings about the “third sex,” a derogatory term for homosexuals in Iraq.  According to the report, men have been kidnapped, tortured and murdered for something small, such as wearing a tight shirt, tight jeans, or a certain hairstyle – fashions claimed to be worn by the “third sex.”  HRW describes the situation as “social cleansing.”

According to HRW, hundreds of men have been killed in the last few months.  A hospital employee interviewed by HRW after he fled Iraq described the stories he was receiving from colleagues, “a fellow doctor-a colleague, a classmate of mine, who works at al-Kindi hospital-told me over the phone that more were killed yesterday. Four were brought in with their genitals cut off. And some were brought in, not dead, with glue in their anuses.”  The report explains that injecting glue into the anuses of suspected gay men has become a common form of torture, and men who suffer its effects are brought into hospitals almost daily.

HRW explains that the most astounding aspect of the situation is the lack of action to stop the killings.  According to the report, government officials actually participate in the persecution.  The report details the story of a man in Baghdad who ran safe-houses for gay men who had been disowned by their families.  He told HRW that officials for the Ministry of the Interior has arrested him, tortured and raped him, and finally he was freed when he bribed one of the guards.  According to HRW, ministry members take these actions claiming that they are within the law, punishing those who have participated in “indecent acts.”

The report concludes by calling on the Iraqi government to take action s to stop the persecution of gay men.  HRW reminds Iraq of their international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which require states to provide for the rights to Life and Security (Article 9), to Protection against Torture, and Inhuman and Degrading Treatment (Articles 7 & 11), and to Non-Discrimination and Fundamental Rights (Articles 26, 17, 19, and 21).   They ask the government to publicly condemn such action and to prosecute those responsible.

For more information, please see:

CNN – Gay Men Attacked, Executed in Iraq, Rights Group Says – 17 August 2009

Human Rights Watch – Iraq: Stop Killings for Homosexual Conduct – 17 August 2009

Human Rights Watch – “They Want Us Exterminated”: Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation and Gender in Iraq – 17 August 2009

USA Today – Rights Group Reports Anti-Gay Death Squads at Work in Iraq – 17 August 2009

The Washington Post – Gay Men Targeted In Iraq, Report Says – 17 August 2009