Two men said to be gay were killed on Thursday in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City in Iraq on Thursday, Reuters reports:
“‘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. The slum is a bastion of support for fiery Shi'ite
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mehdi Army militia…Many young men who might have cut their hair short and grown beards
when religious gangs controlled much of Iraq now dress in a more
Western style as government forces take back control. Some are now accused of being gay, and residents of Sadr City say at least one coffee shop has become a gay hangout. A member of the slum's Sadrist office said the Mehdi Army was not
involved in the killings, but said homosexuality was now more
widespread since the Mehdi Army lost control of the slum.”
