March 30, 2009

Iraqi Gays Sentenced to Death for Their Sexuality Face Execution

Executions thought to start this week

LONDON, March 30, 2009  –  More than 100 prisoners in Iraq are facing execution – and many of them are believed to have been convicted of the 'crime' of being gay, the UK-based Iraqi-LGBT group reported today.

According to Ali Hili of Iraqi-LGBT, the Iraqi authorities plan to start executing them in batches of 20 starting this week.

The London-based group, which believes that a total of 128 executions are imminent, is calling on the UK Government, international human rights groups and the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva to intervene "with due speed" to prevent "this tragic miscarriage of justice" from going ahead.

"We have information and reports on members of our community whom been arrested and waiting for execution for the crimes of homosexuality," Mr Hili told UK Gay News.

"Iraqi-LGBT has been banned from running activities on Iraqi soil," he revealed.

"Raids by the Iraqi police and Ministry of Interior forces cost our group [to the extent of] diapering and killing of 17 members working for Iraqi-LGBT since 2005.

"The death penalty has been increasing at an alarming rate in Iraq since the new Iraqi regime reintroduced it in August 2004.

"In 2008, at least 285 people were sentenced to death, and at least 34 executed.  In 2007 at least 199 people were sentenced to death and 33 were executed, while in 2006 at least 65 people were put to death.

"The actual figures," Mr. Hili suggested, "could be much higher as there are no official statistics for the number of prisoners facing execution."

Iraqi-LGBT is concerned that the Iraqi authorities have not disclosed the identities of those facing imminent execution, stoking fears that many of them may have been sentenced to death after trials that failed to satisfy international standards for fair trial.

Most are likely to have been sentenced to death by the Central Criminal Court of Iraq (CCCI), whose proceedings consistently fall short of international standards for fair trial, Mr. Hili said.

"Allegations of torture are not being investigated adequately or at all by the CCCI.  Torture of detainees held by Iraqi security forces remains rife.

"Iraq's creaking judicial system is simply unable to guarantee fair trials in ordinary criminal cases, and even less so in capital cases, with the result, we fear, that numerous people have gone to their death after unfair trials.

"The Iraqi government must order an immediate halt to these executions and establish a moratorium on all further executions in Iraq, particularly since due process cannot be guaranteed.

"The state executing people for 'morals' crimes is also obviously unacceptable and deplorable," he said.

Amnesty International has called on the Iraqi authorities to make public all information pertaining to the 128 people, including their full names, details of the charges against them, the dates of their arrest, trial and appeal and their current places of detention.

â–  The immediate urgent priority is to both support and donate money to LGBT activists in Iraq in order to assist their efforts to help other LGBT Iraqi people facing death, persecution and systematic targeting by the Iraqi Police and Badr and Sadr Militia  – and to raise awareness about the wave of homophobic murders in Iraq to the outside world.

Funds raised will also help provide LGBTs under threat of killing with refuge in the safer parts of Iraq (including safe houses, food, electricity, medical help) and assist efforts help them seek refuge in neighbouring countries.  Click on the Iraqi-LGBT logo below for details on how to help.

Amnesty International reports:

"The use of the death penalty has increased rapidly in Iraq since it was reinstated in mid-2004. Since then more than 270 people have been sentenced to death and at least 100 people have reportedly been executed.... [S]ince [2005], there has been a rapid rise in executions with at least 65 people, including at least two women, reportedly executed by hanging in 2006. Iraq now figures among the countries with the highest numbers of executions reported in 2006. Higher totals were recorded only in China, Iran and Pakistan."

The death penalty applies in cases "of prostitution, homosexuality, incest and rape." 

Author's Bio: OpEdNews Senior Editor. In 2004, Rady Ananda joined the growing community of citizen journalists.

Initially focused on elections, she investigated the 2004 Ohio election, organizing, training and leading several forays into counties to photograph the 2004 ballots. She officially served at three recounts, including the 2004 recount. She also organized and led the team that audited Franklin County Ohio's 2006 election, proving the number of voter signatures did not match official results. Her work appears in three books.

Her blogs also address religious, gender, sexual and racial equality, as well as environmental issues; and are sprinkled with book and film reviews on various topics. She spent most of her working life as a researcher or investigator for private lawyers, and five years as an editor.

She graduated from The Ohio State University's School of Agriculture in December 2003 with a B.S. in Natural Resources.

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