Life Gets Worse for Iraqi Gays

An Iraqi GLBT advocate living in exile claims that gay men in Iraq are being subject to a loathsome, and fatal, form of torture: their anuses are being glued shut, after which the victims are force-fed a mixture that induces diarrhea, leading to their deaths.

Ali Hili, the London-based leader of Iraqi LGBT, was cited as making the claims in an April 21 article appearing at Queerty.

The Queerty item stated, "Buoying the theory that it's the 'anal sex' part of being gay that really infuriates homophobes, Iraqi militants are reportedly gluing shut the anuses of suspected gays.

"Repeat: Gluing shut their anuses. With a glue so resilient, you need surgery to remove it," the article continued.

"This is torture, and some 60 men have already been attacked with it."

The Queerty article posted an excerpt from what it claimed was a translated news item from Iraqi network Al Arabiya: "Yina Mohammad told Alarabiya.net that, 'Iraqi militias have deployed an unprecedented form of torture against homosexuals by using a very strong glue that will close their anus,'" the purported translation read.

"According to her, the new substance 'is known as the American hum, which is an Iranian-manufactured glue that if applied to the skin, sticks to it and can only be removed by surgery.

"After they glue the anuses of homosexuals, they give them a drink that causes diarrhea. Since the anus is closed, the diarrhea causes death.

"Videos of this form of torture are being distributed on mobile cellphones in Iraq," the article added.

The article said that religious leaders from both the Shiite and Sunni traditions of Islam had called for gays to be killed.

The story follows a spike in killings of gays in the country, where, according to an April 13 article published in the UK newspaper The Independent, 25 Iraqi men and youths were murdered by death squads on suspicion of being gay.

The Independent article noted a cause-and-effect pattern with respect to the spike in killings, saying that once the social climate in Iraq began to stabilize, gay men felt freer about gathering in public places.

But a backlash from religious leaders followed, with clerics demanding the killings of gays, with the result being a number of murders ostensibly carried out by death squads or as "honor killings" perpetrated by the victims' male relatives; when several men were found dead in Sdr City with the word "pervert" cut into their flesh in Arabic, Reuters reported, an official claimed that, "They were sexual deviants. Their tribes killed them to restore their family honor," The Independent said.

Hili was quoted in The Independent, saying, "Since mid-December we've been getting lots of reports about mass arrests and raids on houses, cafes, barbers shops." Hili placed the number of deaths in the last four months at 63, and said that Iraqi government officials had a hand in the killings.

If so, it would appear that any involvement by government officials is taking place without the express authority of the Iraqi government; following similar claims from Hili that were reported earlier in April, EDGE was informed by a U.S. State Department spokesperson that the Iraqi government has no official policy of killing gays.

John Fleming, the public affairs officer for the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, told EDGE that no one in Iraq had been executed legally since 2007, and that Iraq is not one of the several nations ruled by Sharia, or Muslim religious, law where homosexuality is punished with death. Stories to the contrary, Fleming told EDGE, were "bogus."

Hili expressed a conviction that, official or not, the Iraqi government had a hand in the killings. The Independent quoted Hili as saying,"We believe a war has been launched by the Iraqi Government and its establishment against gay people."

Hili's organization runs a series of "safe houses" in Iraq where gay men and lesbians can seek refuge. Hili was quoted by The Independent as saying, that, "for the most effeminate cases, we advise them not to go out at all."

In response to Hili's latest assertions, Fleming told EDGE that, "The [State] Department... condemns the persecution of LGBTs in Iraq."

Fleming pointed out that the U.S. government views the persecution of minorities as counter-productive to Iraq regaining peaceful and orderly day-to-day life.

"The [United States Government] provides training to [Government of Iraq] security forces as part of our ongoing transfer of security responsibilities back to the Iraqis," Fleming pointed out. "Whenever such training is conducted, it included mandatory instruction on the proper observance of human rights.

"The need for Iraqi forces to respect the human rights of all Iraqis is continually emphasized by the US because we know the persecution of minorities, including LGBTs, is a core motivator of sectarian violence," Fleming added.

"This is an issue we frequently raise with Iraqi leaders and officials, and we stress to them that they should work within their society to build respect and tolerance."

Fleming acknowledged that while no governmentally approved executions have taken place in Iraq for more than a year, some criminal offenses do still merit the death penalty under Iraqi law; but homoesexuality, Fleming reiterated, is not among them.

"And, according to the Baghdad Embassy, prisoners who have been sentenced to death in Iraq have been convicted of murder, terrorism, insurgency and kidnapping," Fleming clarified.

"Information that you may have received to the contrary has no basis in fact."

The Independent article said that political watchdog group Amnesty International had prepared a letter addressed to Iraqi president Nouri Al-Maliki in which the group deplored the government's failure to investigate the killings comprehensively.

The letter also directed the president's attention to public statements from the Iraqi police that seem to encourage anti-gay violence.

The Independent quoted Amnesty International spokesperson Niall Couper as saying, "The gay community in Iraq deserves protection and that means their leaders needs to stand up for them.

"Amnesty International is calling on Nouri al-Maliki to condemn all attacks on members of the gay community, publicly, unreservedly and in the strongest terms possible."

The situation for gays in Iraq has also caught the attention of openly gay Colorado congressman Jared Polis, who demanded that "egregious human rights violations" against GLBT Iraqis be investigated.

Polis' Web site included a link to a letter to Iraqi officials the Congressman had prepared, and quoted him as saying, "The United States should not tolerate human rights violations of any kind, especially by a government that Americans spend billions of taxpayer dollars each year supporting."

The site also noted that Polis had been contacted by "an Iraqi human-rights advocacy group" and that the congressman had spoken via phone with "a transgender Iraqi man who said he had been arrested, beaten, and raped by Ministry of Interior security forces."

Polis undertook a trip to Iraq to look into the matter, meeting with Iraqi officials and delivering his letter, in which Polis explained the situation as he understood it and asked for the government's attention to the situation.

Said the congressman, "We will now wait and see whether the Iraqi government is serious about protecting the human rights of all Iraqis and what role our own State Department can play in helping to protect this minority in Iraq."

Polis also spoke about assertions that the country's own officials may have participated in anti-gay torture and killings, saying, "I am most disturbed by allegations that Iraqi government itself may be involved in the persecutions.

"This warrants an immediate investigation from both American and Iraqi governments."