News & Politics - Iraqi police 'killed 14-year-old boy for being homosexual'

Lexis · 05-05-2006, 02:30 AM

Quote:

Human rights groups have condemned the "barbaric" murder of a 14-year-old boy, who, according to witnesses, was shot on his doorstep by Iraqi police for the apparent crime of being gay.

Ahmed Khalil was shot at point-blank range after being accosted by men in police uniforms, according to his neighbours in the al-Dura area of Baghdad.

Campaign groups have warned of a surge in homophobic killings by state security services and religious militias following an anti-gay and anti-lesbian fatwa issued by Iraq's most prominent Shia leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Ali Hili, the co-ordinator of a group of exiled Iraqi gay men who monitor homophobic attacks inside Iraq, said the fatwa had instigated a "witch-hunt of lesbian and gay Iraqis, including violent beatings, kidnappings and assassinations".

"Young Ahmed was a victim of poverty," he said. "He was summarily executed, apparently by fundamentalist elements in the Iraqi police."

Neighbours in al-Dura district say Ahmed's father was arrested and interrogated two days before his son's murder by police who demanded to know about Ahmed's sexual activities. It is believed Ahmed slept with men for money to support his poverty-stricken family, who have fled the area fearing further reprisals.

The killing of Ahmed is one of a series of alleged homophobic murders. There is mounting evidence that fundamentalists have infiltrated government security forces to commit homophobic murders while wearing police uniforms.

Human rights groups are particularly concerned that the Sadr and Badr militias, both Shia, have stepped up their attacks on the gay community after a string of religious rulings, since the US-led invasion, calling for the eradication of homosexuals.
Grand Ayatollah Sistani recently issued a fatwa on his website calling for the execution of gays in the "worst, most severe way".

The powerful Badr militia acts as the military wing of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), which counts Ayatollah Sistani as its spiritual leader. Another fatwa from the late and much revered Ayatollah Abul Qassim Khoei allows followers to kill gays "with a sword, or burn him alive, or tie his hands and feet and hurl him down from a high place".

Mr Hili said: "According to our contacts in Baghdad, the Iraqi police have been heavily infiltrated by the Shia paramilitary Badr Corps."

Mr Hili, whose Abu Nawas group has close links with clandestine gay activists inside Iraq, said US coalition forces are unwilling to try and tackle the rising tide of homophobic attacks. "They just don't want to upset the Iraqi government by bringing up the taboo of homosexuality even though homophobic murders have intensified," he said.

A number of public homophobic murders by the Badr militia have terrified Iraq's gay community. Last September, Hayder Faiek, a transsexual, was burnt to death by Badr militias in the main street of Baghdad's al-Karada district. In January, suspected militants shot another gay man in the back of the head.

The US State Department has yet to document the surge in its annual human rights reports. Iraq's neighbours, however, such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, are often criticised for their persecution of gays.

Darla Jordan, from the US State Department said: "The US government continues to work closely with our Iraqi partners to ensure the protection of human rights and the safety of all Iraqi citizens."

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/...icle362151.ece

The freedom and democracy experiment's going a little awry don't you think? If police we're training are more loyal to militias than to protecting their fellow citizens, there is something really screwed up in the fact we're training and equpping them so they can terrorise their community.

Bill the bloodless · 05-05-2006, 03:35 AM

^^That's true, a lot of bad is coming out of freedom and democracy.

lytab5 · 05-05-2006, 05:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill the bloodless

That's true, a lot of bad is coming out of freedom and democracy.

I don't think that this is entirely a failure of democracy. I agree, that it seems easy to access the police and such for radical groups / persons - they do have a problem over there.
But those opinions about homosexual people didn't develop because of democracy. I don't think not being in the police or anything will stop them from destroying and murdering because they think something is wrong... What is needed there is education, IMO.

Lexis · 05-05-2006, 07:21 AM

I understand homophobia is something that happens all over and attitudes towards gay people need work but my chief concern is that its the POLICE that are alleged to have executed this boy. How can the country be truly free and democracy be truly valid when the police are murdering people and following the orders to their religious militias rather theit commanding officers and leaders?

***Raonaild*** · 05-05-2006, 08:10 AM

Freedom and democracy aren't the same thing. You can have freedom with anarchy too, which is basically what Iraq is getting right now ... anarchy under a thin facade of democracy. Voting alone does not make a democracy - the will of the majority has to be enforced somehow, and if police are doing something that was not in the expressed will of the majority, that's not democracy.

It's quibbling a bit, but democracy isn't necessarily about protecting the rights of minority groups either (homosexuals in this case). If they held a vote and the majority agreed that all homosexuals should be killed, that is democracy. But most democratic countries also develop a set of fundamental rights which cannot easily be overridden by the majority (like the US Constitution, or the Canadian Charter of Rights). I've never read the Iraqi constitution, but I'm guessing there's something in there to the effect that police can't go about executing citizens for being gay. A consitution also has to be enforced for it to have any meaning.

Lexis · 05-05-2006, 10:29 AM

I agree with your point about Iraq being an anarchy under a thin facade of democracy but to me, the war in Iraq has been and continues to be sold as a war to bring freedom and democracy to Iraq.

To me - and I think to most people in the countries who waged this war - freedom is about being able to be yourself without fear of execution. And democracy is not just voting like you said - to me, its about the people choosing leaders who then use their powers to protect their fellow citizens and enforce the law. As you mentioned, extra judicial murders don't fall under that remit.

I just think that this case is just another in a long line of events that shows that something is not working.

Papri · 05-07-2006, 12:36 PM

I think the worst issue here is that the boy was forced to being basically a male prostitute in order to support his family. To me that's desperation, not being "gay". He wasn't sleeping with men for fun (even then he shouldn't have been killed, but still). The fact that he was murdered for trying to help his family, all the while probably going through emotional trauma (being a victim of child abuse) is the worst thing. Why not go after the sick ones who exploited him?

GhostWriter · 05-08-2006, 03:07 PM

Because more than likely, the same group that killed the boy, more than likely used him as well... sadly, that's usually how these things end up working...

shobhna_guerin · 05-08-2006, 06:31 PM

I'm sorry but there are hate crimes against homosexuality in the "developed" countries of the world. So when these countries invade and take over other countries, most of these close-minded principles are bound to make the transition too, aren't they?

Just a thought.

Lexis · 05-09-2006, 12:45 AM

Yes, hate crimes is a problem not confined to one nation - but in this case, the police were the ones who killed this boy. This is not just a story about one boy's suffering - it is another example of the problems with the new Iraq police force.

shobhna_guerin · 05-09-2006, 03:22 AM

Agreed.

jalapeno_wildchild · 05-09-2006, 08:55 AM

that doesn't sound too good, i feel bad for the boys family.

Dalz · 05-10-2006, 05:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jalapeno_wildchild

that doesn't sound too good, i feel bad for the boys family.

Yes. This is terrible. I agree very much with Lexis' viewpoint. It is very much the signs of a problematic Iraqi police force who are to blame here. Something needs to be done in this aspect... urgently.

Ms Carolyn · 05-11-2006, 03:24 PM

Something definitely needs to be done, but the word "urgent" makes me nervous. There was a whole lot of urgency driving the decision to invade Iraq in the first place, but not much common sense.

Clearly, the police force needs training and monitoring and screening and some bad seeds need to be culled, and it should happen as expeditiously as can be accomplished without screwing the whole thing up. There's been an interesting series on NPR this week, that does give me hope that the Iraqui police force can be fixed, but it's going to take some time to do it.

Marni-Barnarni · 05-13-2006, 07:42 PM

Iraq is living with one foot in the past and one in the present. The country is, and has been in a constant state of political, social and religious turmoil for a VERY long time. The fact that something has to be done is a relevant argument however it would need to start with the government cracking down on these kind of killings by the police.


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