Gay Iraqi Teen Killed by Police
 08 May 2006- Iraq- Human rights groups have condemned the barbaric
murder of a 14-year-old boy who was shot and killed in front of his home
by police for what they're saying was the crime of 'being gay'. Ahmed
Khalil was beaten by several men wearing Iraqi police uniforms and then
shot at point-blank range in Bagdhad last week, according to his
neighbors 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. The fatwa calls for the execution of gays in
the "worst, most severe way".
According to Ali Hili, the head of an organization of exiled Iraqi gay
men who monitor allegations of attacks against gays and lesbians in
Iraq, the fatwa has created a climate of violence against lesbian and
gay Iraqis. They say the violence includes beatings, kidnappings and
killings.
"Young Ahmed was a victim of poverty," he said. "He was summarily
executed, apparently by fundamentalist elements in the Iraqi police." |
