Iraqi police execute Ahmed, aged 14
Guest bloggers | 22nd October 2007 | Iraq
Human rights activist Peter Tatchell reports on the death squads that are murdering children suspected of being "gay" and on the criminal gangs that are blackmailing teenagers into the sex industry
Ahmed Khalil was a likeable, playful 14 year old boy. He was born in the southern Iraqi town of al-Ammara. The eldest child, he came from an uneducated family who lived in great poverty.
After the 2003 US-led invasion, the Iraqi economy collapsed, causing widespread unemployment and the disintegration of social services. With no income or welfare support in al-Ammara, Ahmed's family moved to Baghdad.
His father wanted to find a job to support his wife, two sons and daughter. The family settled in al-Dura, a very poor district of Baghdad.
Ahmed's father got a job as a night watchman on a building site for the pitiful wage of 10 dollars a month, plus permission for him and his family to live on the site until the construction of the new houses was completed. They lived in the shell of the unfinished buildings. It was a life of desolation and destitution.
His family was desperate. To help them financially, Ahmed occasionally had sex with men, in exchange for small amounts of money or food - some times for just a few potatoes or a small loaf of bread.
Eventually, in the close-knit community of al-Dura, rumours of Ahmed's sexual relations with men began to spread, causing great scandal. His behaviour was reported to the police by religious zealots.
Soon afterwards, Ahmed's father was arrested, detained and interrogated by the police. They demanded to know what he knew about Ahmed's sexual activities and blamed Ahmed for corrupting the community. Officers eventually released Ahmed's father.
Two days later, in early April 2006, Ahmed was found dead, aged 14, on the doorstep of his house. He had been shot, with two bullets to the head and several bullets in the rest of his body.
A neighbour witnessed Ahmed's execution from his bedroom window. Four uniformed Iraqi police officers arrived at Ahmed's house in a four-wheel-drive police pick-up truck. The neighbour saw the police drag Ahmed out of the house and shoot him at point-blank range.
Several other neighbours broadly confirm this account, although they did not see the actual shooting. They say they heard gunshots and ran out to see the police leaving the scene. They found Ahmed's body lying on the ground outside his house. It is believed by these neighbours that Ahmed was executed by the police.
Both Ahmed's mother and father were traumatised by their sons' brutal killing. Even though they acknowledge that homosexuality is taboo, they do not agree that he deserved to die. His family see him as a victim of poverty and police murder.
Because they are so poor, the parents could not afford a funeral for their son.
The day after Ahmed was murdered, his family moved out of the area, fearing further police violence and denunciation within the local community. The family's whereabouts and fate is unknown.
Ahmed is one of many hundreds, possibly thousands, of teenage boys and girls in Iraq who feel forced to sell their bodies to survive and to support their impoverished families.
Some young people are being blackmailed into the sex industry. Criminal gangs have taken advantage of the chaos and lawlessness of post-invasion Iraq. Sex ring operators bribe or drug teenage boys and girls into having sex. They secretly photograph them in compromising sexual acts and then threaten to publish the photos unless the youths agree to work as prostitutes. Since sex outside of marriage is a huge social taboo and is punishable by death under Sharia law, if these photos were revealed it would be an effective death sentence. The young people ensnared would be executed by the Taliban-style Islamist militias and death squads that now rule much of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities. These teenagers are trapped.
Ali Hili, is an exiled gay Iraqi who is Middle East Affairs spokesperson for the London-based gay human rights group OutRage! He is also coordinator of Iraqi LGBT, the clandestine network of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists in eight Iraqi cities.
Iraqi LGBT members in Baghdad have been documenting information about the sexual exploitation and abuse of Iraqi children, and had helped rescue some of them from the sex industry.
In June last year, lslamist militias burst into the home of two lesbians in the city of Najaf. Both in their mid-30s, the women were members of Iraqi LGBT. They were providing a safe house for gay men and children on the run from death squads. By sheer luck, none of the men were at home when the assassins struck. The lesbian couple were not so lucky. The Islamists shot both of them dead and slashed their throats. They also murdered a young child the women had saved from the sex trade.
"We want action by the Iraqi government against these death squads and against the criminal networks that are behind the sex trade in young children", said Mr Hili.
"Iraqi LGBT calls on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Red Cross and Red Crescent and international aid agencies to do more to support poor Iraqi families, so that children no longer feel obliged to resort to sex-for-money in order to survive," he said.
Referring to the execution of Ahmed Khalil, Mr Hili continued:
"Young Ahmed was a victim of poverty. He was summarily executed, apparently by fundamentalist elements in the Iraqi police.
"According to our contacts in Baghdad, the Iraqi police have been heavily infiltrated by the Shia paramilitary Badr Corps. They are seeking to impose a fundamentalist morality on the people of Iraq. The murder of Ahmed follows a pattern of Badr executions of suspected gays and lesbians. Badr are using their members in the police to enforce the violent homophobia of Sharia law, but without any judicial process. They are carrying out summary executions, sometimes based on little more than rumour and gossip. Badr's policy is one of "moral cleansing". They want to impose a theocratic dictatorship based on their particular hardline interpretation of Islam. In the name of religion, they are murdering gay people, prostitutes, unveiled women, people wearing jeans or shorts, sellers and consumers of alcohol, people with Sunni names, and other religious and ethnic minorities.
"Much of this killing is inspired by the Shia spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. He has issued a death fatwa against lesbians and gays, instructing that they should be killed in the 'worst, most severe way possible.' Using such theological pretexts, Badr is kidnapping and executing anyone who is suspected of homosexuality, even young kids." said Mr Hili.
Donations to Iraqi LGBT
The UK-based gay human rights group OutRage! is working with Iraqi LGBT to support its work. Iraqi LGBT is coordinated by Ali Hili from the safety of London UK. The group does not yet have a bank account. Operating an Iraqi LGBT bank account in Baghdad would be suicide. For this reason, it has to operate its finances from London. All the group's members in London are Iraqi refugees seeking asylum. Their lack of proper legal status makes it difficult for them to open a bank account in the UK. This is why Iraqi LGBT is asking that cheques be made payable to "OutRage!", with a cover note marked "For Iraqi LGBT", and sent to OutRage!, PO Box 17816, London SW14 8WT, England, UK. OutRage! then forwards the donations received to Ali Hili and Iraqi LGBT for wire transfer to activists in Baghdad.
Further information on Iraqi LGBT
Ali Hili 079819 59453
Blog: http://iraqilgbtuk.blogspot.com/
Photos of some of the LGBT victims are available here and here.
For further information about Peter Tatchell's human rights campaigns, see www.petertatchell.net
