HUMAN RIGHTS TRUMP RELIGIOUS RITES
LGBTQ community in Iraq fear acts of violence against them, as thousands of al-Sadr's followers pledged to stand against homosexuality on Friday.
The New Arab Staff & Agencies
03 December, 2022
al-Sadr had made similar statements previously against LGBTQ community in Iraq.
(Photo by QASSEM AL-KAABI/AFP via Getty Images)
An influential Iraqi cleric who announced his withdrawal from politics four months ago has broken a period of relative silence to launch an anti-LGBTQ campaign.
Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr posted a statement on Twitter Wednesday calling for “believing men and women (to) unite all over the world to combat (the LGBTQ community).”
He added that this should be done "not with violence, killing or threats, but with education and awareness, with logic and ethical methods.”
The religious leader's call has stoked fears in the LGBTQ community, particularly given that al-Sadr's followers have a history of violence. After the cleric announced his resignation from politics in August amid an impasse over government formation, hundreds of his angry loyalists stormed government buildings in the capital and set off clashes that left at least 30 dead.
On Friday, following the afternoon prayer session, thousands of al-Sadr's followers lined up outside of mosques around the country to sign a pledge to “stand against (homosexuality) or (LGBTQ) by ethical, peaceful and religious means” and to demand “abolition of the homosexuality law.”
It was not clear what law the pledge was referring to. Iraq does not have a law that explicitly criminalises homosexuality, although it has one that outlaws “immodest acts," which Human Rights Watch has described as a “a vague provision that could be used to target sexual and gender minorities.”
In Kufa — a town in al-Sadr's home province of Najaf province — hundreds lined up to sign the pledge on Friday. Kazem al-Husseini, imam of a local mosque noted that al-Sadr had made similar statements previously.
“There is a fear that the West is putting pressure on the Arab and Islamic regimes to legitimize same-sex marriage in the constitutions and laws so that they try to normalize this perversion,” he said.
In Baghdad’s Sadr City, Ibrahim al-Jabri, who also signed the pledge, said he is standing against the “corruptions that came to us from Europe and elsewhere, what they call freedoms. We also have the freedom to reject falsehood, to reject corruption.”
Despite the campaign’s nominal commitment to non-violence, LGBTQ people in Iraq fear that it will lead to more harassment and abuse in a country where their identity already puts them in danger.
A Human Rights Watch report released earlier this year accused armed groups in Iraq of abducting, raping, torturing, and killing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people with impunity. The Iraqi government, it says, has failed to hold perpetrators accountable.
An influential Iraqi cleric who announced his withdrawal from politics four months ago has broken a period of relative silence to launch an anti-LGBTQ campaign.
Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr posted a statement on Twitter Wednesday calling for “believing men and women (to) unite all over the world to combat (the LGBTQ community).”
He added that this should be done "not with violence, killing or threats, but with education and awareness, with logic and ethical methods.”
The religious leader's call has stoked fears in the LGBTQ community, particularly given that al-Sadr's followers have a history of violence. After the cleric announced his resignation from politics in August amid an impasse over government formation, hundreds of his angry loyalists stormed government buildings in the capital and set off clashes that left at least 30 dead.
On Friday, following the afternoon prayer session, thousands of al-Sadr's followers lined up outside of mosques around the country to sign a pledge to “stand against (homosexuality) or (LGBTQ) by ethical, peaceful and religious means” and to demand “abolition of the homosexuality law.”
It was not clear what law the pledge was referring to. Iraq does not have a law that explicitly criminalises homosexuality, although it has one that outlaws “immodest acts," which Human Rights Watch has described as a “a vague provision that could be used to target sexual and gender minorities.”
In Kufa — a town in al-Sadr's home province of Najaf province — hundreds lined up to sign the pledge on Friday. Kazem al-Husseini, imam of a local mosque noted that al-Sadr had made similar statements previously.
“There is a fear that the West is putting pressure on the Arab and Islamic regimes to legitimize same-sex marriage in the constitutions and laws so that they try to normalize this perversion,” he said.
In Baghdad’s Sadr City, Ibrahim al-Jabri, who also signed the pledge, said he is standing against the “corruptions that came to us from Europe and elsewhere, what they call freedoms. We also have the freedom to reject falsehood, to reject corruption.”
Despite the campaign’s nominal commitment to non-violence, LGBTQ people in Iraq fear that it will lead to more harassment and abuse in a country where their identity already puts them in danger.
A Human Rights Watch report released earlier this year accused armed groups in Iraq of abducting, raping, torturing, and killing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people with impunity. The Iraqi government, it says, has failed to hold perpetrators accountable.
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