Petrelis Files

Anti-Gay Death Posters in Baghdad;
Gays in Hiding

There are two disturbing reports this morning about new death threats being made against homosexuals in Iraq. This excerpt comes courtesy of the On Top Magazine site:

A rising wave of anti-gay sentiment continues to engulf the Iraqi city of Baghdad. The AFP is reporting that a previously unknown anti-gay group bent on killing gays has launched a new campaign of terror.

The group, called Brigades of the Righteous, has posted signs around the Baghdad slum of Sadr City naming alleged gays and threatening to kill them

“We will punish you, perverts,” the posters say. Those on the list have reportedly gone into hiding.

And the IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran's Broadcasting) News Agency site in Iran today printed a story about the posters. My friend Lily Mazahery, an Iranian-American human rights lawyer in Washington who works tirelessly to stop executions in Iran especially on behalf of women, translated the story from Farsi into English. Thank you, Lily.

This article says homosexuals have received death threats in a small town named “Sadr” in Iraq.

On Friday, an unknown group posted flyers on walls in Sadr (small town near Baghdad), threatening to kill homosexuals. The flyers, which were signed by “Fazliat,” stated “soon, we shall punish you.” The flyers included names of a number of persons deemed to be homosexual. According to residents of Sadr, some of the named persons have gone into hiding as a result of the threats.

On another part of the town, anti homosexual slogans were written.

In early April, bodies of 3 youths who were thought to be homosexual were found in a location close to the town of Sadr. The bodies had bullet holes in them.

Sadr is one of the poorest parts of Baghdad, with a population of 2 million Iraqis.

According to French press from Baghdad, Jasim Al-Matiri, one of the leaders of anti-gay group in Sadr, had recently made derogatory comments about the “misguided” men who dress like women and act like women.

Ali Hili, leader of the Iraqi LGBT organization, is circulating an email from the International Gay/Lesbian Human Rights Commission that calls attention to the IRIB news story. As of this writing, IGLHRC has not posted the contents of the email on its web site, which I ask them to do forthwith.

In keeping with their isolatoinist core beliefs, neither the Human Rights Campaign nor the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force have tasked their communications departments to get the word out about the growing efforts to murder gays in Iraq. Has any USA gay group bothered to burp up a release or condemnation about this violence against our brothers in Iraq? I'd be pleased to link to any such condemnation.