Three homosexuals shot dead in Iraq
AFP
BAGHDAD- The bullet-riddled bodies of three Iraqis said to be homosexuals have been found in Baghdad's Sadr City, bastion of anti-US Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a defence ministry official said on Sunday.
"Three corpses of homosexuals have been recovered in Sadr City. Two of the bodies, found on Thursday, had pieces of paper attached on which was written the word 'Pervert.' The third body was retrieved on Friday," the official said.
During Friday prayers in Sadr City, a poor district of Baghdad where some two million Iraqis live, Sheikh Jassem al-Mutairi slammed what he called "new private practices by some men who dress like women, who are effeminate."
"I call on families to prevent their children from following such a lifestyle," he added.
Since a US-backed Iraqi army offensive on Sadr City in April and May last year, Sadr's powerful Mahdi Army Shiite militia has lost much of its influence in the area.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki launched the assaults on Sadr City and the southern city of Basra, in which more than 1,000 people died, in a bid to disarm the militia and restore law and order in the areas under Mahdi Army control.
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