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August 07, 2006
A bad sign -- if true
I don't know how true this story is or whether it has been independently confirmed, but if it is true, Iraq is rapidly becoming like Iran in its treatment of gays. Homosexuality is seen as so immoral that it qualifies as an 'honour killing' to murder someone who is gay - and the perpetrator can escape punishment. Section 111 of Iraq's penal code lays out protections for murder when people are acting against Islam.The report goes on and on like that, and most of the incidents involve militia gangs. What concerns me is the arrest warrant signed by the Ministry of the Interior. Either the Iraqi government is issuing warrants saying that people should be arrested and killed for homosexuality or the story is false. The boogeyman is not in the USA, it is a movement of Islamic fascists that want to conquer freedom and KILL YOU for being you. And this gay left wing blog sees the murder of gays as "Your taxpayer dollars hard at work to build a better world." At this point, I'd like to know what the facts are. If the Badr Brigade and other militias are executing homosexuals, they are part of the Islamist enemy we're supposed to be fighting. But if "Section 111" sanctions these murders, and if the Interior Ministry is involved, then I'd be pretty upset to think that Americans helped install and support a government like that. Right Rainbow also links the story, as does Andrew Sullivan, who says, "We liberated a country for this?" I don't know whether "we" have in fact done that. As I said when Ayatollah Sistani's remarks were reported, this war is not over: Far from being the brand-new provocation as they've been portrayed, Sistani's pronouncements have to be seen as epitomizing what Mohammad calls "the old" which is fighting to trample out the new. This is all the more reason not to be in any hurry to withdraw our troops from Iraq. If the troops depart after overseeing the installation of a mullahcracy, shame on the United States.That's pretty much how I feel right now. I'd also like to know what is really going on. It's one thing for street gangs to murder gays; it's quite another for that to become government policy. The former indicates the war is not over; the latter is more indicative of mission failure, in the human rights department. As to Karar Oda, whose murder was said to have followed the Interior Ministry arrest warrant, there's a picture of his burned body here, with the following caption: Karar Oda ,mid 30s ,farmer, killed and burned in April 2006 .That entry is dated July 31, so I don't know where the Observer got the additional information. (Every Google hit on the name "Karar Oda" and "arrest warrant" links to the Observer, so Jennifer Copestake's Observer account appears to be the only source so far.) As to the author of the piece, Jennifer Copestake, I don't know whether she is the same person as this professional activist who went on trial in Canada in 2003: Jennifer Copestake, Chad Brazier, Polad Safari and Paul Smith, who will be defending themselves against charges of mischief, were arrested last year after attaching themselves with lock boxes to the parking gates of the High Commission, impeding access to the lot for 5 hours.The charges were later dropped. As of last year, Jennifer Copestake was a journalism student seeking to be an international reporter: Jennifer Copestake is currently studying in the Bachelor of Journalism program at Carleton University in Ottawa. Her professional ambition is to work as a foreign correspondent. Jennifer has already jump-started her career in global broadcasting by studying international new reporting for a semester at the City University of London, England.I don't know whether this is the same Jennifer Copestake as the activist student in journalism, but if so, I would hope that bias doesn't affect her reporting. Anyone who knows anything else, I'm all ears. Might there be some way to confirm an arrest warrant from the Iraqi Interior Ministry? UPDATE: I can find absolutely no confirmation of Jennifer Copestake's assertion that Section 111 of the Iraq Penal Code sanctions "honor killings" at all, much less whether murdering a homosexual is an honor killing. While the article states that "Section 111 of Iraq's penal code lays out protections for murder when people are acting against Islam," the only mentions of anything like this are references to the article. The apparently current Iraq Penal Code (from 1969, but it seems to have been updated) is available from the Army Judge Advocate General's office for download here. I downloaded it and read through all sections mentioning the word "murder." There is no mention whatsoever of honor killings, or religious exceptions for murder. An Arabic version of the updated code can be downloaded here, if anyone is interested. Unless there's a recent, totally revamped Penal Code, I'd say something doesn't look quite right. Perhaps someone in the JAG core could shed some light on this. MORE: The above (1969) Penal Code appears to have been in effect as recently as 2004. Here's Richard Dicker, Director of the International Justice Program of Human Rights Watch, in a letter dated September 24, 2004 to Prime Minister Allawi: 6. Reliance on Iraqi Criminal Law AND MORE: If you google "Section 111" and Iraq "Penal Code", virtually all hits go to the Observer's sentence that "Section 111 of Iraq's penal code lays out protections for murder when people are acting against Islam." But where is the section to be found? Will the missing Iraqi law will turn up somewhere? Or will this be a repeat of Capitol Hill Blue? MORE: Here's a recent example of the use of the Iraq Penal Code by an Iraqi Court in a criminal case: BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Central Criminal Court of Iraq convicted 22 security detainees for various crimes including illegal border crossing, coordinating deadly attacks and joining terrorist groups.Article 194 checks out as being in the code provided at the above JAG link, and its text provides as follows: Paragraph 194 - Any person who organizes, directs or assumes command of an armed group that attacks any sector of the population or has, as its objective, the prevention of the rule of law, the invasion of territory or the appropriation by force of property belonging to the State or a group of people or who resists with the use of arms members of the public authorities is punishable by death. However, any person who joins such a group without participating in its formation or assuming control of it is punishable by life imprisonment or imprisonment for a term of years.Just for the record, here's the text of Section 111: Precautionary measures deprivation of rightsI don't think that's it. posted by Eric on 08.07.06 at 08:07 PM
Comments
There are two very different issues: one is the presence of armed thugs enforcing their view of "morality" in the streets; the other is official government involvement. Is there any Section 111 of the Iraq Penal Code sanctioning honor killings? If there was such a provision, would we have read about it somewhere? What about the Interior Ministry's "arrest warrant"? These are pretty serious allegations, and I see no confirmation anywhere. Eric Scheie · August 8, 2006 07:31 AM |
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Sadly, I wouldn't be surprised if we are allowing this kind of thing. I've been convinced that we lost the Iraq war when we made a bunch of short term deals to get a constitution written-one that, even if we ignore the illiberal aspects of it, points to no real economic future for the country. Liberty and tolerance simply don't exist in a vacuum. Prosperity makes people act more charitably in every way. And, with the law as it is in Iraq, they'll never know enough material prosperity to treat those who are different as brothers.