An Iraqi Group Helping Women and Gays Is Receiving Death Threats
Another portion of this article has been posted to Women's Rights & Issues Group. As I have oft stated, homophobia and misogyny walk hand in hand. We must present a united front in the battle against this kind of bigotry and hatred.
World News
07.22.14
An Iraqi Group Helping Women and Gays Is Receiving Death Threats
Religious groups are threatening to kill the members one of the few Iraqi organizations dedicated to helping women and gays.
by Jacob Siegel
(excerpts)
...Advocating for women’s rights has never been safe work in Iraq but as the war empowers radical religious groups, it’s growing more dangerous. In an earlier conversation, Hanaa Edwar, who heads the Iraqi Al-Amal Association, another NGO in Baghdad that works on women’s rights issues, warned about the rise of the militias’ power. “The militias try to replace the rule of the law,” she said. “The armed groups are trying to replace the security forces. This is a horrible thing for the country.”...
...The organization has moved the young women and gay men it assists to undisclosed locations. “If the police or any militias visit,” Jumaa said, “they won’t find them.”
Haidar is one of the young gay men helped by the organization. He knows what threats like this can lead to. Two years ago, Haidar watched as his close friend was murdered by militia members who suspected he was gay.
“They called him Saif the Bride because people stared at him like a beautiful woman,” Haidar said. In 2012 Haidar and Saif went to Baghdad’s Lebanon Street to buy clothing. While Haidar shopped he saw a crowd gather in the street and went out to look. “Four men in black clothing put him on the ground. They called him gay and a son of a bitch, then they smashed his head with stones.” After watching them kill his friend, Haidar escaped, fearing that they would turn on him next....
MORE at http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/22/an-iraqi-group-helping-women-and-gays-is-receiving-death-threats.html
