LONDON, September 15, 2007  –  Iraqi LGBT is facing a cash crisis in their efforts to assist lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people in Iraq.

For over a year, Friends of Iraqi LGBT has been trying to help by funding safe houses in Iraq for those who have come to the attention of the death squads and who have consequently had to flee their homes.

Since the US-led invasion of Iraq, gay people in Iraq have suffered particularly intense persecution.

Violence against all the gay community has intensified sharply since late 2005, when Iraq’s leading Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, issued a fatwa (religious decree) which declared that gays and lesbians should be “killed in the worst, most severe way”.

As a result, LGBT people have been specifically targeted by the Madhi Army (the militia of fundamentalist Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr) as well as by other militant death squads.

There are even credible reports of gay men being arrested and executed by the Iraqi police.

The United Nations and the US State Department have issued reports documenting some of the more recent killings.

“It is impossible to document precisely how many gay, trans gender and lesbian have been killed in Iraq as a result of their sexuality, but we have specific knowledge of hundreds of cases, and every LGBT individual in Iraq is currently in severe danger,” said Ali Hili of the London-based Friends of Iraqi LGBT.

The group is now facing a critical situation in regards to funding.

“The need is rising, and unless more financing can be raised immediately, a number of safe houses will have to close by the end of this month, putting dozens of vulnerable people at risk of execution,” Mr. Hili said.

“We are therefore appealing to you for a donation. Any amount, no matter how small, could save a life,” he added.

The cost of funding the rent on a safe house is approximately £900 (1,800 US dollars) a month

This is made up of £400 for rent – typically paid three months in advance, £200 for the salaries of two armed guards – an essential part of the security arrangements, and £300 per month for gas, fuel for electricity generators, food, clean drinking water, hygienic supplies and the like.

Additionally, most of the safe houses are terribly short of essentials like bedding and cooking utensils.  Each safe house typically looks after 10-12 individuals at a time.

“You can see that the cost of protecting a life in Iraq is really very small,” Mr. Hili said.

“We currently fund five safe houses with guards, but several of these will have to shut imminently unless we can step up our funding.

“Moreover, we have recently been receiving daily requests for new assistance from various cities in Iraq, and most of the time we are unable to help because of lack of funds,” he revealed.

“Ideally, we would also like to pay for HIV medicines for a number of positive Iraqis, but at the moment we are not able to afford this.”

Iraqi LGBT has also been providing financial assistance to assist LGBT individuals in particularly dangerous areas of Iraq to move to relatively safer parts of the country, or even to seek refuge abroad.

■ You can help make a difference in this tragic situation by making a PayPal donation via the Friends of Iraqi LGBT website

SEE ALSO

For Gays in Iraq, a Life of Constant Fear.  By Molly Hennessy-Fiske.  BAGHDAD — Samir Shaba sits in a restaurant, nervously describing gay life in Iraq. He speaks in a low voice, occasionally glancing over his shoulder.  (Los Angeles Times, August 5, 2007)

More Gays Executed.  Iraqi lesbians and gays continue to be subjected a systematic reign of terror by Shia death squads, Ali Hili, the coordinator of the human rights group Iraqi LGBT, said in London this morning.  Warning - there is a graphic image on this page.  (UK Gay News, April 4, 2007)

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Posted: 15 September 2007 at 15:00 (UK time)