A recent rash of killings of people perceived to be gay or emo in Iraq has stoked fear within those communities, which worry the government might be unwilling or unable to protect them. At least 14 such victims were killed in Baghdad in the past three weeks, according to a senior Interior Ministry official, who was not authorized to talk to the media.
Rights activists claim the number is actually much higher, with some suggesting dozens or more than 100 have been killed since February. The killings appear to target people perceived to be gay, or emo — shorthand in Iraq for an in-your-face style of Western dress that favours tight clothes, long hair and the colour black.
The murders come less than a month after the Interior Ministry released a statement on the emo phenomenon, blasting it as Satanic. It said the movement, which it described as young people wearing "strange and tight clothes with graphics such as skulls," is being monitored by authorities with the goal of eliminating it. To that end, community or "moral police" will be allowed to enter schools in the capital, the statement read.
