:00:24. > :00:30.It first appeared in the streets of Baghdad. In the name of God, they
:00:30. > :00:40.said, they were all armed. They gave names and addresses of the
:00:40. > :00:47.shameless. The witch hunt had begun. We had cases where kids were cut
:00:47. > :00:53.from the bodies. They were bashed with concrete blocks. Metal rods
:00:53. > :00:58.were put through their scolds. thought that by killing them, they
:00:58. > :01:08.were cleansing society. His is the story of modern-day Iraq, where
:01:08. > :01:37.
:01:37. > :01:40.young men and women are killed for In a safe house, for Friends await
:01:40. > :01:45.would news of it assignment. They too will me because of what
:01:45. > :01:51.happened to them in Baghdad. Identifying them may put their
:01:51. > :01:56.families in danger. Just before you came here there was an incident at
:01:56. > :02:00.a party in Baghdad with the police raided the party. What happened?
:02:01. > :02:05.was a small get together and soberly somebody came into the door
:02:05. > :02:11.with police and soldiers and started to beat us and strip us
:02:11. > :02:18.naked making us walk outside. A soldier told me I was protecting
:02:18. > :02:25.the country and what are you doing? You have sex. They put cold water
:02:25. > :02:31.on us and beat us. I was terrified they would rape us. A wide were you
:02:31. > :02:37.terrified of being raped? I was skit because this has happened
:02:37. > :02:43.before at the police checkpoint. You were raped by the police?
:02:43. > :02:49.we would gain rate at the checkpoint. It was a hit the bride
:02:49. > :02:59.that got them out of jail. They fled Iraq. They were threatened to
:02:59. > :03:06.
:03:06. > :03:12.be killed. Much has changed in Baghdad since I was last here two
:03:12. > :03:18.years ago. The American troops have gone. Explosions still happen but a
:03:18. > :03:22.lot more rare. It's still very dangerous but live here on the
:03:22. > :03:28.street feels much more normal. What has also changed is that for one
:03:28. > :03:34.group of people, in Baghdad today, it's more dangerous than ever
:03:34. > :03:40.before. These days, it's not just bad luck all being in the wrong
:03:40. > :03:46.place at the wrong time. It is the fitting of your clothes or your
:03:46. > :03:50.haircut that made determined where you live or die in Baghdad. The
:03:50. > :03:56.anti-gay campaign by the militia in Baghdad has been well-documented.
:03:56. > :04:02.The evidence we uncovered shows the country's democratically elected
:04:02. > :04:07.government is complacent about the persecution of gay men and women in
:04:07. > :04:14.Iraq. Here in one of the most conservative and Polotanu district
:04:14. > :04:18.of Baghdad, a campaign against them and this first began. In 2009,
:04:19. > :04:24.human rights Watch said dozens may be hundreds of gay people in Iraq
:04:24. > :04:31.have been killed. This report includes description of torture
:04:31. > :04:35.used against gay men. Many are too horrific for us to describe.
:04:35. > :04:41.Mutilation of the bodies. They would describe -- discovered in the
:04:42. > :04:48.rubbish. It's largely controlled by the Army, the Shia militia, some of
:04:48. > :04:54.the most brutal killings of women in Iraq have happened here.
:04:54. > :05:00.Officially, the Government has disbanded the Army at the residence
:05:01. > :05:08.said it has made little difference here on the ground. Like the
:05:08. > :05:14.teacher, the radical cleric -- cleric, he believes homosexuality
:05:14. > :05:22.or the food six, is a sin and an illness. On camera he disapproves
:05:22. > :05:29.of this violence. TRANSLATION: Islam rejects homosexuality. We
:05:29. > :05:36.cannot accept this. In it our tradition, or in the religion. We
:05:36. > :05:43.can say that measures taken against these people are also wrong. The
:05:43. > :05:51.rejection of homosexuality should be within them all. -- the law. He
:05:51. > :05:58.is a resident here. He is not gay but he takes a big risk trying to
:05:58. > :06:03.help those who were there. It is less than 2009. The militia are
:06:03. > :06:13.against the homosexuals. It's very difficult for gay people here. Most
:06:13. > :06:13.
:06:14. > :06:22.of them had been killed or have left. Leaving the city also carries
:06:22. > :06:30.a big risk. To move around in Baghdad, you need to pass through
:06:30. > :06:35.India's military and police checkpoints. -- military and police
:06:35. > :06:42.checkpoints. It is not the militia who they are hiding from but the
:06:42. > :06:51.police. A riot at this safe house. The police raided their flat. They
:06:51. > :06:58.went out but the remit was arrested. The new room mate was here for two
:06:58. > :07:04.months. Ever since his family threatened to kill him. I am tired
:07:04. > :07:09.and sad and have no freedom. I cannot say I am gay. It cannot
:07:09. > :07:18.leave my life. I need to stay you doing nothing waiting. I wish we
:07:18. > :07:25.could show you their faces. He has big, dark, worried our eyes. She is
:07:25. > :07:30.very pretty. I would never guess that she was that way. She has a
:07:30. > :07:36.very trendy haircut. It would be very normal and the west but not
:07:36. > :07:41.here in Iraq. Is it up make it you killed here. There are three it is
:07:41. > :07:47.much bigger than before. It's not just the militia but the police and
:07:47. > :07:52.the Government who come after us. cannot tell her many times I was
:07:52. > :07:56.raped at the checkpoints by the police. The worst was at the
:07:56. > :08:02.checkpoint in a street asking me for ID and they told me to get out
:08:02. > :08:10.of the car it was night time. They put me against the wall and I was
:08:10. > :08:13.raped by a nine police. The story of rape like this from people who
:08:13. > :08:17.oppose and sexuality is mind- boggling but a reflection of the
:08:17. > :08:24.way that men and women in this conservative society relate to each
:08:24. > :08:34.other. The man who was raped, conceded like a femur part of the
:08:34. > :08:35.
:08:35. > :08:40.gay relationship, not men who is raping you, the rapist. Both are
:08:40. > :08:49.supposed to be in a homosexual relationship. The idea is that the
:08:49. > :08:55.masculine moon, that part is evil. I don't know what to say. That was
:08:55. > :08:59.the strongest part of the relationship. He deserves to leave.
:08:59. > :09:07.The week apart, the one presenting the female aspect in the
:09:07. > :09:15.relationship, deserves today. are the main charged with keeping
:09:15. > :09:21.back did save. Yet here, at the checkpoint, they say the right to
:09:21. > :09:26.most commonly violated. This checkpoint is manned by the
:09:26. > :09:34.Interior Ministry. A neighbour to you double story. In this country,
:09:34. > :09:37.you can be a policeman by day and with the militia at night.
:09:37. > :09:46.Allegiances make it easy for the Government to blame the militia for
:09:46. > :09:55.these killings of gay men. Damian and activists say it is the state
:09:55. > :10:00.He was a former policeman but he quit because he could not stand
:10:00. > :10:10.what he was seeing or taking part in and the resting of homosexuals
:10:10. > :10:11.
:10:11. > :10:15.and stock. In 2006 to 2008 we were fighting the terrace. We did not
:10:16. > :10:25.pay any attention to gay people. The Government was respecting the
:10:26. > :10:34.
:10:34. > :10:38.rulebook law. Now, there's a lot of Ironically, it was under the old
:10:38. > :10:48.regime of Saddam Hussein that gave women and men in Iraq enjoyed the
:10:48. > :10:52.most freedom. The US-led occupation gave rise to more conservative
:10:52. > :10:57.groups, tolerance, especially towards anything connected to the
:10:57. > :11:02.West, became increasingly scarce. Ask anyone in the streets of
:11:02. > :11:07.Baghdad and they will give you a long list of reasons, cultural and
:11:07. > :11:12.religious, as to why homosexuality is not accepted. But what is
:11:12. > :11:16.happening in Iraq goes far beyond the Sting and homophobia out that
:11:16. > :11:22.exist everywhere in the Middle East. Here, there is very clear evidence
:11:22. > :11:29.of systematic and organised persecution of people who are
:11:29. > :11:35.believed to be gay. He is still mourning his boyfriend. He worked
:11:35. > :11:39.at a police station in Baghdad. Six weeks ago, he came to work to find
:11:39. > :11:42.his boyfriend in one of the pre- trial detention cells. There was no
:11:42. > :11:51.official arrest warrant and there was nothing that he could do to
:11:51. > :11:55.help him. Being gay is not illegal in Iraq. It is not a crime. But he
:11:55. > :12:01.was arrested because he was gay. They call them puppies. They would
:12:01. > :12:06.beat him, saying that you poppies are destroying our country. We must
:12:07. > :12:14.kill you all. He was in the police station for a week. The last time
:12:14. > :12:19.he saw his boyfriend was the day before he died. I was so upset. I
:12:19. > :12:24.lost all control. I had a fight with the guards. I was screaming,
:12:24. > :12:30.why did you kill my lover. They said, since you are like him, you
:12:30. > :12:34.should be dead as well. I started looking for any documents relating
:12:34. > :12:38.to his death. I told them I was going to go to the human rights
:12:38. > :12:48.regulations and tell them everything. But they threatened to
:12:48. > :12:53.
:12:53. > :13:02.kill me and I had to leave like that. In Iraq, men have been
:13:02. > :13:06.targeted endured just for looking like they might be gay. He says he
:13:06. > :13:13.started receiving death threats in February, around the same time when
:13:13. > :13:22.the Iraqi and Western media went into a frenzy reporting that dozens
:13:22. > :13:29.of young men were being killed around Baghdad. In the West, they
:13:29. > :13:34.are teenagers with pounds haircuts and love of punk music. In reaction
:13:34. > :13:40.to media reports, Iraq's interior ministry issued a statement, saying
:13:40. > :13:44.that the phenomenon was and tannic and had to be eradicated. One local
:13:44. > :13:47.organisation in Baghdad, which closely monitored the events that
:13:47. > :13:57.followed, claims that the Iraqi political establishment was behind
:13:57. > :13:57.
:13:58. > :14:02.the killings. They put guards at the gateways of universities. These
:14:02. > :14:08.policemen began to threaten the young men, if they were not going
:14:08. > :14:14.to cut their hair short, if they do not dress in a respectable way,
:14:14. > :14:19.quite a quiet, respectable, and the police man cannot guarantee the
:14:20. > :14:27.safety of the young men. So it was another way off the government to
:14:27. > :14:33.tell all the young people, if you do not submit to a traditional way,
:14:33. > :14:39.into a religiously excepted hair style and appearance, you will be
:14:39. > :14:46.cured. Media reports seem to have been exaggerated, but nobody knows
:14:46. > :14:50.how many young people really died in 2012. This boy was a long talk
:14:50. > :15:00.deaths of 11 young men and one woman that the United Nations has
:15:00. > :15:00.
:15:00. > :15:10.managed to confirm. The UN believes the real number is much higher,
:15:10. > :15:15.that being gay, or been perceived as a gay, has such a stigma that
:15:15. > :15:25.many families try to hide why their children has died. He is neither a
:15:25. > :15:26.
:15:26. > :15:30.day nor IMO, he just likes skinny jeans and has slightly long hair.
:15:30. > :15:35.He told me that two days before this interview, a friend of his
:15:35. > :15:45.were shot at close range inside the city. He was gay and had been
:15:45. > :15:45.
:15:45. > :15:50.threatened before. With so much fear, loathing and secrecy, it is
:15:50. > :16:00.difficult to establish the exact level of the government's
:16:00. > :16:00.
:16:00. > :16:05.involvement in the anti-gay campaign. But the accounts of 17
:16:05. > :16:09.gay men interviewed for this film are consistent. The interior
:16:09. > :16:12.ministry statement sparked the new wave of violence, or have had
:16:12. > :16:20.friends or boyfriends killed, and all said arrests were still
:16:20. > :16:24.happening. I just got off the fine with one of our contacts, who is
:16:24. > :16:29.gay and we were supposed to enter the him today, but he cancelled
:16:29. > :16:33.because he says he is too afraid to leave his house. He said that 15
:16:33. > :16:38.gay men, they were arrested this morning. There is no way that we
:16:38. > :16:43.can verify this. The interior ministry ignored our numerous
:16:43. > :16:46.requests for comment. The Ministry of Human Rights has said it could
:16:46. > :16:52.not help gay people, because they were not considered a minority in
:16:52. > :17:01.Iraq. I went to see a person who speaks on behalf of Iraq's Prime
:17:01. > :17:08.Minister. We do not have that many numbers in Iraq. Two, there are
:17:08. > :17:13.limited cases of violation. We cannot protect them. We have a
:17:13. > :17:18.different had but a custom, and we cannot legalise the homosexual act
:17:18. > :17:22.in the country. We are not talking about homophobia, we are talking
:17:22. > :17:27.about systematic and quite organised persecution and killings
:17:27. > :17:34.of gay men and women, what is the right the government doing to stop
:17:34. > :17:40.that? And definitely we stop it already. We did not have any cases.
:17:40. > :17:45.As I said, we do not have that big number of homosexuals and gays,
:17:45. > :17:51.they do not have the same freedom in the West. Gays issue respect of
:17:51. > :17:56.the behaviour and moderate of the values, in order to be respected.
:17:56. > :18:06.It is a bit like telling a black person not to be black. No, bat is
:18:06. > :18:08.
:18:08. > :18:12.nature. Homosexuality is not by nature, it is a behaviour. Not a
:18:12. > :18:17.single politician or public figure in Iraq has stood up to stop the
:18:17. > :18:27.killings, and people do not see it as an issue. Life is hard for
:18:27. > :18:32.everybody here, everybody in Iraq knows someone who has died. Before
:18:32. > :18:38.2003, this used to be a children's playground. Look at it now. There
:18:38. > :18:42.is no end in sight to all the greats, there isleft to the
:18:42. > :18:45.Greystones, and it is in places like is that you begin to
:18:45. > :18:51.comprehend the sheer scale of suffering and loss that this
:18:51. > :18:56.country has been through it. Activists say that up to 1,000 gay
:18:56. > :19:02.men and women have been cured in Iraq since 2004. Most of them in
:19:02. > :19:08.recent years. A drop in the ocean of tens of thousands of deaths, but
:19:08. > :19:15.this is why some believe that these targeted killings I just ate
:19:15. > :19:19.destroying the very promise of free Iraq. If the live in a community
:19:19. > :19:24.where one person does not feel safe, they will kill him. When they
:19:24. > :19:28.finish him, they would turn to the second person, they stay quiet, the
:19:28. > :19:35.third person, they will come and they will kill you, and nobody will
:19:35. > :19:41.speak. If we stay quiet about the killing of the gay person, the
:19:41. > :19:47.woman will be cured, and the other marginalised will be killed, other
:19:47. > :19:51.minorities will be killed, and none of us will be around. Back in the
:19:51. > :19:57.safe house, outside Iraq, the memories of what happened at home
:19:57. > :20:06.and the worries about friends they left behind become too much. The
:20:06. > :20:12.interview ends in tears. All four of them have left the room and
:20:12. > :20:19.there are now crying in the bedroom. What have I done, I am so wrong and
:20:19. > :20:24.so bad, he weeps, now I will never see my mother again. We are not
:20:24. > :20:34.animals, we are human, we are Muslims as well. We are a good
:20:34. > :20:35.
:20:35. > :20:40.Muslims. What do we deserve to be killed and tortured in such ways?
:20:40. > :20:50.It is like we did not exist, she said to me. The government does not
:20:50. > :20:56.
:20:56. > :21:01.want them to exist. It wants an... and the United Nations says Iraq is
:21:01. > :21:04.in violation of international law, and they aren't neglecting acts of
:21:04. > :21:11.violence against people, and it makes to the state a perpetrator in
:21:11. > :21:17.the crime. But there is brave little the UN or anyone can do to