“They stabbed me and threw me in the garbage bin.” The tragedy of trans and gay people in Iraq

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[size=52]“They stabbed me and threw me in the garbage bin.” The tragedy of trans and gay people in Iraq[/size]

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Rights group condemns violence against LGBT people in Iraq
[size=45]A transgender woman said that several men beat and stabbed her, threw her in a rubbish bin, and set her on fire before others rescued her. A man like me said that his friend was killed in front of his eyes.[/size]
[size=45]A lesbian woman was stabbed in the leg and said she had been warned to stop her "immoral behaviour".[/size]
[size=45]These accounts came within a report by Human Rights Watch accusing armed groups in Iraq of kidnapping, raping, torturing and killing transgender people, gays, lesbians and bisexuals (LGBT people), with impunity.[/size]
[size=45]The organization said that the Iraqi government failed to hold the perpetrators accountable.[/size]
[size=45]Human Rights Watch published the report, on Wednesday, in cooperation with the Iraqi organization (Iraq Queer) for LGBT rights. The report accuses the Iraqi police and security forces of often complicit in the violence against LGBT people and of arresting individuals because of their appearance.[/size]
[size=45]The report paints a picture that LGBT people are trapped in many directions, including extreme violence by family members, street harassment, digital targeting, and harassment by armed groups on social media and gay dating apps.[/size]
[size=45]“Attacks against LGBT people in Iraq have become multifaceted, and targeting methods have expanded,” Rasha Younes, LGBTI rights researcher in the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch, said in response to email questions.[/size]
[size=45]Younes stated that people and organizations defending LGBT rights in most parts of the Middle East and North Africa face violence and discrimination, and there are laws criminalizing same-sex relations in most countries in the region.[/size]
[size=45]And some countries that don't, she added, use other laws to target gays.[/size]
[size=45]“Iraqi LGBTI people live in constant fear of being chased and killed by armed groups with impunity, as well as arrest and violence by the Iraqi police, which makes their lives unbearable. The Iraqi government has done nothing to stop the violence or hold the violators to account,” according to Rasha Younis.[/size]
[size=45]The report stated that armed groups - suspected of involvement in abuses against LGBT people - often fall under the umbrella of the Popular Mobilization Forces, militias whose presence the state acknowledges.[/size]
[size=45]For his part, Major General Khaled Al-Muhanna, a spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, denied that security forces attacked LGBT people. A mid-ranking PMF commander - contacted by The Associated Press - also dismissed the accusations, saying any potential violence was on the part of their families.[/size]
[size=45]The Islamic State, which controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq, maintained one of the most brutal methods of killing suspected LGBT people, throwing some from rooftops.[/size]
[size=45]The report is based in part on 54 interviews with LGBTIQ Iraqis. Human Rights Watch conducted the research between June and November last year.[/size]
[size=45]Two LGBT people interviewed by The Associated Press in Baghdad - one bisexual and one lesbian - said they were afraid to post their photos on gay dating apps for fear of it being used against them.[/size]
[size=45]They spoke on condition of anonymity. Their identity for fear of retaliation by armed groups, and their families. They said that fear of extortion is widespread among LGBT people in Iraq.[/size]
[size=45]“When I choose to talk to someone about my leanings, I wonder: Can I trust them?” says bisexuality, a filmmaker living in Baghdad. Or will it be used against me?”[/size]
[size=45]"I've lived in fear all my life since I announced my sexual orientation," he says. The gay woman, a foreign embassy employee, said she only confided in a few close friends.[/size]
[size=45]When asked about the worst that could happen to her if she announced her inclinations to her family, she said, "They will kill me."[/size]
[size=45]The report concluded that “the ability and willingness of LGBT people to report abuses to the police or file complaints against law enforcement officials is hampered by a combination of broadly defined (morality) provisions in the Iraqi Penal Code, and the absence of reliable complaints systems and legislation to protect them from discrimination.”[/size]
[size=45]“This created an environment in which armed government actors, including the police, could abuse LGBT people with impunity,” the report said.[/size]
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