Gay Iraqis Facing Horrific Torture

Over the past few weeks, news reports have surfaced about a rise in attacks and killings of gays throughout Iraq, where men—both professed and allegedly gay—are being targeted and harassed. But now there's a shocking new story that the men are being tortured to death in a most vicious way: by having their anuses glued shut and then are forced to consume a beverage that causes diarrhea, resulting in death. The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) translated a report that appeared on the Arabic-language news station Alarabiya, which said:

"A prominent Iraqi human rights activist says that Iraqi militia have deployed a painful form of torture against homosexuals by closing their anuses using 'Iranian gum.' ... Yina Mohammad told Alarabiya.net that, 'Iraqi militias have deployed an unprecedented form of torture against homosexuals by using a very strong glue that will close their anus.' According to her, the new substance 'is known as the American hum, which is an Iranian-manufactured glue that if applied to the skin, sticks to it and can only be removed by surgery. After they glue the anuses of homosexuals, they give them a drink that causes diarrhea. Since the anus is closed, the diarrhea causes death. Videos of this form of torture are being distributed on mobile cellphones in Iraq.'

According to this human rights activist, for the past 3 weeks a crackdown on homosexuals has been going on based on a religious decree that demands their death; dozens have been targeted. She says that the persecution of homosexuals is not confined to the Shiite clerics. Some Sunni leaders have also declared the death penalty for sodomy on satellite channels."

Gays in many parts of the world face persecution, but this is just plain horrific. How can a society, especially one in which Muslim leaders claim that Islam allegedly doesn't preach violence, allow this to occur? How can world leaders stand by and not put an end to this targeted abuse?

The news that gay people are being attacked doesn't come as a surprise; the Muslim world is vocally anti-gay (the claim by Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that his country didn't have any gay people living there was absurd). Sure, many will say that there are bigger issues we have to deal with, but if we can't keep innocent people safe in their own homes, how can we call ourselves civil and human?

Obviously people are abused all over the world, but when something as shocking as this surfaces, the senseless abuse needs to be squashed. What sort of pain must these men endure? And how long does their torture exist before they're spared with death?

The IGLHRC sent a letter to Iraqi Minister of Human Rights, Wijdan Salim, urging her to take action to protect her country's LGBT community. With Iraq's current unrest, it's unlikely anything will happen to protect these people. Hopefully they will be given asylum to leave their country. –Gay.com

PS: And where is the public outrage over this issue? Silence equals tolerance! Sham on YOU America!