Two

Two men were killed
in Baghdad's Sadr City
slum after clerics urged
a crackdown on homosexuality.

Conditions are especially dangerous
for gays and lesbians
in Iraq since the U.S.
invasion empowered religious militias.

“Their tribes killed them
to restore family honor,"
said a Sadr City official.
At two Friday prayer

gatherings sermons condemning homosexuality
were proclaimed. Some who
shave their beards and
dress in a more

Western style are now
accused of being gay;
at least one coffee
shop’s a gay hangout.

"This (homosexuality) has spread
because of the absence
of the Mehdi Army,
the spread of satellite

television and a lack of
government surveillance," said Shi’ite
Sheikh Ibrahim al-Gharawi. At
G20 Queen shushes Berlusconi.


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source: Reuters, April 4, 2009
Wisam Mohammed, Khalid al-Ansary, Ahmed Rasheed, reporting