GenQ - For the not so straight individual

Generation Q has received this release concerning several gay men in Iraq who are feared dead. It is very important that everyone contacts their senators concerning this matter.

The following is the text unedited:

Iraq police abduct gays at gunpoint Tris Reid-Smith 01 December 2006 Ten gay men have been abducted in Iraq and it is feared all of them may have been murdered. Five young activists from Iraqi LGBT, Amjad 27, Rafid 29, Hassan 24, Ayman 19 and Ali 21 were seized at gunpoint by Iraqi police while holding a secret meeting in the al-Shaab district of Baghdad on 9 November.

They were communicating with Ali Hili, a British-based gay Iraqi Muslim who heads Iraqi LGBT and is Middle East spokesman for UK queer rights group Outrage. Hili said: "For the last few months they had been documenting the killing of lesbians and gays, relaying details of homophobic executions to our office in London, and providing safe houses and support to queers fleeing the death squads." Suddenly there was a lot of noise, then the connection ended. Just days later, Haydar Kamel, aged 35, the owner of famous men's clothing shop in the al-Karada district of Baghdad, was kidnapped near his home in Sadr city. The kidnappers were members of the Mahdi army, an Islamist militia loyal to fundamentalist leader Muqtada al-Sadr. "Haydar had previously received death threats because of rumours about his alleged homosexuality. For many months, he had financially supported several gay men who were in hiding after they had been threatened by death squads," claims Hili. Police also arrested four employees at the Jar al-Qamar barbershop in the al-Karada district of Baghdad which was popular with gay men.

None of the 10 men have been heard from and it is feared all have been summarily executed. "These disappearances are the latest "sexual cleansing" operations mounted by extremist Islamist death squads, many of whom have infiltrated the Iraqi police," notes Hili, who has obtained details of the kidnappings from his underground Iraqi LGBT activist colleagues in Baghdad. "They are systematically targeting gays and lesbians for extra-judicial execution, as part of their so-called moral purification campaign. The aim of the death squads is the creation of a fundamentalist state, along the lines of the religious dictatorship in Iran." Earlier, in June this year, extremist lslamist death squads burst into the home of two lesbians in city of Najaf. They shot them dead, slashed their throats, and murdered a young child the lesbians had rescued from the sex trade.

The two women, both in their mid-30s, were members of Iraqi LGBT. They were providing a safe house for gay men on the run from death squads. None of those men were at home when the assassins struck. They are now hiding in another of the group’s safe houses in Baghdad. Hili said: "Two militias are doing most of the killing. They are the armed wings of parties in the Bush and Blair-backed Iraqi government. Badr is the militia of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which is the leading political force in Baghdad's government coalition. Madhi is the militia of Muqtada al-Sadr." Peter Tatchell says Iraqi LGBT has establishes a network of activists working in Baghdad, Najaf, Karbala, Hilla and Basra. "These courageous activists are helping gay people on the run escape to Syria, Jordan and Lebanon," Tatchell said. "The world ignores the fate of gay Iraqis at its peril. Their fate today is the fate of all Iraqis tomorrow." Iraqi LGBT needs funds to help its work in Iraq. It doesn't yet have a bank account.

Cheques should be made payable to Outrage, with a cover note marked "For Iraqi LGBT", and sent to Outrage, PO Box 17816, London. SW14 8WT.