(Iraqi) Gays flee as religious militias sentence them all to death

[deadparrot]

THE death threat was delivered to Karazan’s father early in the morning by a masked man wearing a police uniform.

The scribbled note was brief. Karazan had to die because he was gay. In the new Baghdad, his sexuality warranted execution by the religious militias.

The father was told that if he did not hand his son over, other family members would be killed.

What scares the city’s residents is how the fanatics’ list of enemies is growing. It includes girls who refuse to cover their hair, boys who wear theirs too long, booksellers, liberal professors and prostitutes. Three shops known to sell alcohol were bombed yesterday in the Karrada shopping district.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-2183948,00.html

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. Just exactly what form of democracy is rummy and shrub puttin'

in over there?? This is apparrently the kind they don't need.

[rodeodance]

2. its called fundamental Islam over secular society. They are now going

after secular ways of being/living. While there always has been some of this, there has been an increase in this form of violence.

[rodeodance]

3. Karazan cut his hair short and dyed it black`````````

With his skin-tight clothes and long blonde hair, Karazan, a 23-year-old arts student, stood out in the Shia neighbourhood of al-Dura. He told The Times: “A number of my gay friends have been murdered, so I took this warning seriously.” The family fled this month to a suburb north of the city centre.

Karazan cut his hair short and dyed it black, but he is still too frightened to venture out. His partner is in the Iraqi Army. With little money and no valid passport, he does not know how he can flee abroad.

Ali Hili, who ran a gay nightclub in Baghdad but fled to Britain this year after receiving death threats, says that he knows of more than 40 men murdered in recent months. “Badr militants used chatrooms to lure them to a rendezvous and then kill them,” he said.

He described a co-ordinated attack on one couple: 38-year-old Karim survived a hand- grenade attack on his home in al-Jameha, but his partner, Ali, was shot dead when he tried to flee his house near by.

[MadMaddie]

4. They were somewhat protected under Saddam...

The cabal won't mention these lives since they don't count....

This is unbelievable....

[Rex]

5. Sounds like something Pat and Jerry would just love in this country.

Extremism sucks no matter what religion it hides behind.

[Critters2]

6. They're damned lucky!

This is SOOO much better than a dictatorship!

[Zorra]

7. Looks like Iraq is a republican paradise. They're eliminating all

the gays and liberals.

Makes me wonder, did Bu*h and the fascist PNAC order these executions?