GAY IRAQI TEEN EXECUTED
Human rights activists have expressed shock at claims that Iraqi police were responsible for the summary “execution” of Ahmed Khalil, a 14 year old teenager, because he was gay.
According to reports by London-based gay human rights group OutRage!, the 14 year old boy was shot by police in the al-Dura district of Baghdad last month.
Ali Hili, Middle East Affairs spokesperson for OutRage!, says that the attack was witnessed by a neighbour who claims to have seen four policemen drag Khalil out of his house into the street where he was allegedly repeatedly shot at point blank range.
Khalil was apparently accused of prostitution and “corrupting the community” by having sex with other men – accusations that are said to have led to the murder.
Hili described Khalil as “a victim of poverty” and says that he “was summarily executed, apparently by fundamentalist elements in the Iraqi police”.
He adds that there is increasing evidence that conservative Shia militias have infiltrated the police and have been “inspired by the Shia spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who has issued a death fatwa against lesbians and gays” via his website.
Hili further claims that the execution is part of a pattern in Iraq of similar murders of gays and lesbians, prostitutes and unveiled women, among others, whose actions do not confirm to the region’s fundamentalist morality.
Credible?. I’m not usually one to question, but how credible is the source of this story? I have searched the internet for more info on this report and come up with nothing. For a boy to be killed in this fashion is shocking, and human rights organisations all over the world would be in up roar…..surely??
Sources. The event was initially reported by Outrage! and has been further reported in various media such as Britain’s The Independent newspaper. It appears to very difficult to confirm these kinds of stories from the Middle East by journalists, which is why we’ve made clear what our source for the story is.
Lobbying. Is anyone aware of any organised SA lobby group or the proper diplomatic channels for South Africans to voice concern &/or opposition to these actions?