AKA William

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The Human Rights Watch has released a report that confirms the continuing murder of gay men by Iraqi militias:

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) report suggests that hundreds of gay men in the country have been attacked and killed since 2004 and claims that members of the Mehdi Army militia group are leading the anti-gay campaign . . . The report, called ‘They want us exterminated: Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation and Gender in Iraq’, says doctors and morgue attendants see horrifically mutilated bodies of gay men. HRW said doctors have confirmed stories of men being killed by having their anuses glued shut before being force-fed laxatives.

It also said it had evidence that Iraqi security forces are colluding in the killings.

One man told Human Rights Watch that militiamen kidnapped and killed his partner of ten years in April: “It was late one night, and they came to take my partner at his parents’ home. Four armed men barged into the house, masked and wearing black. They asked for him by name; they insulted him and took him in front of his parents. … He was found in the neighborhood the day after. They had thrown his corpse in the garbage. His genitals were cut off and a piece of his throat was ripped out.” [Pink News]

The Human Rights Watch also reports that the slayings and intimidation have become more infrequent in recent months as gay communities have gone underground and scores of gay men have fled their neighborhoods.