Hamoudi Al Mutairi’s last words were ‘I want to see my mother’, according to reports.
Two LGBTI individuals in Iraq were murdered in the space of two days this week, according to a local human rights organization.
Both murders appeared to be homophobic attacks on the LGBTI community, IraQueer said in a press release.
Hamoudi Al Mutairi was stabbed to death in the Zaafaraniyah neighborhood in Baghdad on Sunday (7 October).
Another victim, who’s boyfriend asked that their identity not be revealed, was shot in the head in the city of Kirkik on Monday.
IraQueer founder, Amir Ashour, told Gay Star News it is very unlikely that the victims’ friends and families will see justice.
Killings happen every year, he said, and not one person has been held accountable for killing an LGBTI person.
‘These attacks only aim at isolating the LGBT+ identity from the Iraqi identity’ he said. ‘They want to continue killing us and so far, both the local and the international governments have failed to protect us’.
‘I want to see my mother before I die’
Video footage uploaded to YouTube apparently shows Al Mutairi lying on the ground bleeding from his abdomen.
‘I want to see my mother before I die’, he says, according to local media. Reports of Al Mutairi’s age have varied between 14 and 17.
According to IraQueer, the attackers in Kirkik shouted ‘I’ll clean up my city’ before murdering the individual.
220 LGBTI Iraqis killed in one year
More than 220 LGBTI people were killed in Iraq in 2017, according to IraQueer.
What’s more, 96 percent of LGBTI Iraqis reported facing physical or verbal abuse, the group’s report found.
Iraq does not specifically criminalize gay sex. The central government made commitments to protect people from violence based on sexuality and gender identity.
But activists say it has not stopped killings of LGBTI Iraqis by mobs and religious militia which have been rampant since 2006.
Islamic armed group ISIS, which controlled large areas of Iraq and Syria, gained notoriety for murdering people suspected of being homosexual.
LGBTI Iraqis also face violence from other armed militias, government officials and police, and their families.
by Rik Glauert
Source – Gay Star News
