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Over the weekend, news broke that over the past two weeks six men had been executed by gunfire in the Sadr City area of Baghdad by their tribe in order to restore their families’ honor. Their crime? Being gay.

In February, I wrote about Iraqi LGBT Underground Railroad, the London-based IRAQI LGBT the organization that has helped to smuggle dozens Iraqi LGBT citizens out of that country and away from the roaming death squads who attempt to “cleanse” the country of homosexuality by killing those who are gay.

And then last week, IRAQI LGBT released a plea to help 128 gay men who had been sentenced to death for being gay who awaited execution this week. Ali Hili of IRAQI LGBT, wrote that Iraqi authorities had planned to start executing them in batches of 20 from this week.

Ali Hili was right about gay men being executed this week, but these executions were different.

These men were not in prison for being guilty of the crime of homosexuality the way the 128 still awaiting execution — these six men were killed by their own people.

Reuters reports:

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Two gay men were killed in Baghdad’s Sadr City slum, a local official said on Saturday, and police said they had found the bodies of four more after clerics urged a crackdown on a perceived spread of homosexuality.

“Two young men were killed on Thursday. They were sexual deviants. Their tribes killed them to restore their family honor,” a Sadr City official who declined to be named said.

The police source who declined to be named said the bodies of four gay men were unearthed in Sadr City on March 25, each bearing a sign reading “pervert” in Arabic on their chests.

Sermons condemning homosexuality were read at the last two Friday prayer gatherings in Sadr City, a sprawling Baghdad slum of some 2 million people.

And the AP reports:

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.

Witnesses told CNN that a Sadr City cafe, which was a popular gathering spot for gays, was also set on fire.

You can donate to IRAQI LGBT to continue funding the Iraqi Undergound Railroad.

Below, watch a short video I originally posted in February about the Iraq sexual cleansing.