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Loading ...Gay bodies pile up in Baghdad
04.06.2009 8:23am EDT
(Baghdad) The bodies of two gay men have been found in Baghdad’s Shiite slum of Sadr City after a leading cleric repeatedly condemned homosexuality, an Iraqi police official said Saturday.
The killings come after Shiite cleric Sattar al-Battat repeatedly condemned homosexuality during recent Friday prayers, saying Islam prohibits homosexuality. Homosexual acts are punishable by up to seven years in prison in Iraq.The two men were believed killed Thursday by relatives who were shamed by their behavior, said the official. Police said they suspected the killings were at the hands of family members because no one has claimed the bodies or called for an investigation.
The killings come weeks after Iraqi police found four bodies in late March buried near Sadr City with the words “pervert” and “puppies” written on their chests, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
Puppy is a derogatory word used by residents in Sadr City to refer to homosexuals, the official said.
Sadr City, a slum of about two million people, is home to a large majority of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia. Al-Sadr’s forces launched several uprisings against American forces since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, but fighting ended in Sadr City in May 2008.
“When the Mahdi army was in control, such practices were banned, and homosexuals were afraid of declaring their tendencies,” the official said. But that’s changed since the Mahdi Army militia cease fire took hold, the official said. The official said some people claim a coffee shop in Sadr City has become a hangout for gay men.
Sheik Ammar al-Saadi, a cleric at al-Sadr’s office, denied any involvement by the Mahdi army in the killings. He said the Mahdi Army was only urging people to stop practicing homosexuality.
“Such people have brought shame on Sadr city people,” he told The Associated Press. “The blame falls on the security forces who do little to combat this phenomenon or to stop the flow of pornography materials into Iraq.”
Also Saturday, a tourism and antiquities ministry official said Iraq plans to open a museum filled with belongings of ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Abdul-Zahra al-Talqani, the media director of Iraq’s office of tourism and archaeology affairs, told The AP that the items, which include art, furniture and weapons, were being handed back to the Iraqi government by the American military.
The U.S. military had been storing weapons belonging to the late Iraqi dictator in Taji, north of Baghdad.
Al-Talqani said no site for the museum has been selected, though it could be housed in one of Saddam’s palaces.
Some of the former dictator’s belonging are currently stored – but not on display – in Baghdad’s National Museum, which reopened in February after having been closed following looting in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion.
What does the museum bit has to do with the gays being killed? Who edits the news here anyway? Sheesh, stick to the subject, whomever you are.
RELIGION IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL!!!!
Wake Up people! You know its true. If the “Cleric” the “Preist” the “Rabbis” the “Ministers” and such would shut their fucking mouths and hate would not be spewed and the “sheep” would educate their own minds the world would be a better place!
Use your own mind, heart, soul and truly set yourself free!
Over 8 years, billions of dollars and thousands of soldiers lives wasted to bring “freedom and democracy” to these people. Good thing they had oil….
Let the Sunnis and the Shiites murder one another. They deserve it.
Dear FreeYourself!
Hate not religion itself is the root of all evil. If religion were the root of all evil, gays would not be in my church and I would not moving 13 bags of food donations today, 554 cans of food from just a month and a half of our church’s food drive this Friday, along with likely 18 bags of each of them filled for a family of four from our Thursday night church service all in the same week. We donate bags of food to the hungry every week.
if that kind of care for others less fortunate than people like myself is “evil”, let me have more of that so-called “evil”.
@frank
Then we wonder why other minorities hate gay folk too
Morgan,
You work my last nerve, but nonetheless if religious group were like yours feeding the poor, offering shelter, etc that would be nice, but otherwise you know that they aren’t. There’s not even a decent percent in this world that is!
They preach Hate against LGBT, everytime you drop a dollar in the basket at your church it still perpetuates the ill, wrong teachings that the larger CHURCH(es) hold.
You need to get off your “holier than thou” crap, everyone that reads this stuff here knows ENOUGH about your church in the middle of Maryland.
Until you live and experience the HATE from MANY other churches and relgious groups around the world, you really should shut your lil rose color glasses wearing nelly queen ass up!
You obviously weren’t RAPED (by people who represented “Jesus” because of who you were)
HATE stems from the bases of Most Religious Organizations! I am RIGHT. Period. so Post all you want about your little close minded self in from your lil spot in the world.
***RELIGION IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL***
Read this article again, the SHIITE Cleric, Read why Prop 8 failed (the mormons and catholic church donations,etc) Go look up Homosexuality in ANY religion’s “guide book” of hate or “bible” of hate!
PS… MORGAN,
I feed the poor and give shelter to the homeless, I dont need a church to dictate to me about Kindness and love for my fellow “brother and sisters”
You should stop “Bragging” about what you do or did, that is a SIN! not to mention, its not very attractive characteristic in a person…
I do kind things because I want to not because I want recognition!
Margan, Non religious people also do lots of great works, without the need to invoke any mythical event in the Middle East. Are you even implying that without religion (and a possible reward in the afterlife), you would not think to do your charitable works? Come on, give yourself more credit than that.
If you’re going to claim that your religion makes you do good – well, then you must give Scientology and the Nation of Islam credit for getting people off drugs; or credit the charitable works done by Hamas.
I agree with FreeYourself – ‘religion poisons everything’.
Two unrelated thoughts:
1. Homosexuality isn’t illegal in Iraq per se, but some militias target gays and there are a handful of anti-gay death squads in the country.
2. FreeYourself should probably be warned about his/her anti-religion trolling.
Only in Iraq could “puppy” be a bad word. Shame on Sadr City for these hate crimes.
And, Morgan, religion often dresses in charity’s clothes, but it’s all about recruitment and control, so I’m unimpressed. Ask yourself why you don’t work with (or found) a secular group doing the same charitable acts.
Adrian-T:
I think what Morgan was getting at is that “if religion is the root of evil, why are people in my church doing something good?”
Morgan didn’t mean to imply that religion is a prerequisite for being good; only that religion is not on its own evil.
And I can’t see any reason to disagree with that. There are religious people fighting for our rights as much as there are non-religious people fighting for our rights. Calling one group evil when they’re helping us is counterproductive.
Another reason to not join the military and fight in Iraq. This is just plain despicable.
Is it possible that religon is neither good nor evil? It is what people do with or without it? Is it possible that the original founders of these movements really wanted to improve peoples lives ? But somehow it instead has become just a business or a way to control the masses? Is it possible to focus on faith, hope and love ? Religon is easily turned into a weapon and that is why the founding fathers wanted separation of church and state.
Tom in Long Beach
Sheik Ammar al-Saadi’s statement that.. “Such people have brought shame on Sadr city people,” he told The Associated Press. “The blame falls on the security forces who do little to combat this phenomenon…”
The only people who bring true, genuine, unquestionable shame of this city are people LIKE HIM!
Brainwashed nutjobs who incite people to hatred and violence. Pure evil.