Still More Iraqi Gays To Be Executed

128 prisoners currently face execution in Iraq, many of them convicted of the crime of being homosexual. 

Ali Hili of Iraqi-LGBT says that authorities will start killing these people in batches of twenty later this week.  Mr Hili told UK Gay News that raids by the Iraqi police and Ministry of the Interior has already resulted in the murder of seventeen members of his organization:  "The death penalty has been increasing at an alarming rate in Iraq since the new Iraqi regime reintroduced it in August 2004... Allegations of torture are not being investigated adequately or at all by the CCCI (Central Criminal Court of Iraq). Torture of detainees held by Iraqi security forces remains rife... The state executing people for 'morals' crimes is obviously unacceptable and deplorable."

From PageOneQ:  Iraqi-LGBT is concerned that the Iraqi authorities have not disclosed the identities of those facing imminent execution, stoking fears that many of them may have been sentenced to death after trials that failed to satisfy international standards for fair trial... Amnesty International has called on the Iraqi authorities to make public all information pertaining to the 128 people, including their full names, details of the charges against them, the dates of their arrest, trial and appeal and their current places of detention.  (Of course that won't save the lives of those already scheduled for hanging.)

Less than a month ago, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had this to say about LGBT global human rights abuses: "The persecution and discrimination against gays and lesbians is something that we take very seriously.  It is terribly unfortunate that right now in unfortunately many places in the world violence against gays and lesbians, certainly discrimination and prejudice are not just occurring but condoned and protected.  And we would hope that over the next few years we could have some influence in trying to change those attitudes."

Dear Madam Secretary:  Working to change attitudes is always nice.  But does America have so little influence in a country we've been occupying for over six years that we must stand passively by while its government summarily executes gays?  Maybe you could like, uh, make a phone call?  (I do realize that this isn't part of Mrs. Clinton's job description.  But you'd think that for all the cash we've shelled out propping up Iraq's "democratic" regime, we might get them to spare a few lives for us.  And it's not like the U.S. State Department is unaccustomed to meddling in the affairs of other nations.  We do it all the time - and with less to show for it than might be accomplished in this tragic situation.)

UPDATE:  Besides the "official" executions of homosexuals in Iraq, six gay men in Sadr City were shot to death by members of their own tribe after family members disowned them.  And a cafe which served as a gathering place for gays was set on fire.