(London) A British LGBT rights group said Thursday it had received word that the Baghdad coordinator of London-based organization Iraqi LGBT had been murdered.

Outrage said the killing was carried out by one of the two religious militia in the country, but it was not known which one. The man was identified only by his first name, Bashar. Outrage said he was a 27-year old university students.

“Militias burst in and sprayed his body with bullets at point blank range,” said Outrage spokesperson Peter Tatchell. “He was the organizer of the safe houses for gays and lesbians in Baghdad. His efforts saved the lives of dozens of people.”

Homosexuality itself is not illegal in Iraq, but police regularly arrest gays on other, often trumped-up, charges. In addition, death squads imposing strict Islamic law are reportedly responsible for the murders of hundreds of gay men across Iraq.

Last year, the leader of an exiled Iraqi LGBT rights group told a London conference on homophobia that that militias that are blamed for the murders of hundreds of gay men and women are sanctioned by the government – and the US-led coalition is doing little to stop the killings.

Ali Hili said that the Badr and Sadr militias – the armed wings of the two main Shia parties that control the government of Iraq – are routinely rounding up men and women, primarily in Baghdad, suspected of being gay. The men and women are never heard from again.

Five members of Hili’s own group were taken away in November 2006. About a dozen members of Rainbow For Life, another Iraqi LGBT group, also have been seized and are presumed dead.

Another 70 have been threatened with kidnapping, Rainbow For Life has said.

In 2006, the Iraq government strongly criticized a U.N. report on human rights that put its civilian death toll at 34,452, saying it is “superficial” because it included people such as homosexuals.

In March, Iraqi LGBT released videos it said it obtained from Iraqi sources showing LGBT people being arrested, held in custody and having their heads shaved and taunted with songs of hate and revenge.

One of the videos purportedly shows two gay men on their way to what Iraqi LGBT calls a wedding ceremony, when they are stopped at a checking point between Al-Kut and Baghdad and violently pulled out of their car.

Iraqi LGBT said the second video is of a trans person identified only as Ali. The group said that Ali was living in a Basra safe house supported and run by the Iraqi LGBT. Many LGBT people face threats and violence, and these shelters are the only refuges from attacks, the organization said.