A new report from Human Rights Watch has found Iraqi militias are carrying out a spreading campaign of torture and murder against men suspected of homosexual conduct. Hundreds of gay Iraqis have been tortured and killed in recent months, and Iraq authorities have done nothing to stop the killings. Some people told Human Rights Watch that Iraqi security forces have colluded and joined in the killing.

Rasha Moumneh of Human Rights Watch: “What we found in Iraq was disturbing. We heard stories of murder, extra-judicial executions, brutal torture, abductions, extortions, beatings and threats. The target of this killing campaign, which was focused mainly in Baghdad but also spread to other cities in Iraq, was gay men and men who challenge social norms of masculinity. Signs which were interpreted as homosexuality, feminization or Westernization all exposed people to violence. We cannot accurately estimate the scope of this campaign. However, our conversations with human rights activists, UN workers, and doctors in hospitals have led us to believe that the killings may easily number in the hundreds.’’