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 government will do nothing to tackle this issue. It's really desperate when people get to the stage they're trading their children for money. They have no alternatives because there are no jobs,' Hili says.

Graphic photos obtained from Baghdad sources too frightened to identify themselves as having known a gay man, and seen by the Observer, show other gay Iraqis who have been executed. One shows two men, suspected of having a relationship, blindfolded with their hands tied behind their backs - guns at the ready behind their heads - awaiting execution. Another picture captured on a mobile phone shows a gay man being beaten to death. Yet another shows a corpse being dragged through the streets after his execution.

One photograph is of the mutilated, burnt body of 38-year-old Karar Oda from Sadr City. He was kidnapped by the Badr Brigade in mid-June. They work with the Ministry of Interior and are the informal armed wing of the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq, who make up the largest Shia bloc in the Iraq parliament. Oda's family were given an arrest warrant signed by the Ministry of Interior which said their son deserved to be arrested and killed for immorality as a homosexual. His body was found ten days later.

(Via Pajamas Media.)

Bruce at Gay Patriot:

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.

Of course, it is quite disturbing that these death squads are using Iraqi law to escape their systematic murders. But as Tom suggests, this is a good, if disturbing, look into the enemy we are fighting in World War III. No different than the treatment of gays in Iran and Taliban-run Afghanistan.

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.

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 .

All the information we know about him which we have receive from one of his friends in AL nasyria Provence is Karar was killed and burned to death because he was having an affair with another man by the Badr militia.

His city is one of the southern cities of Iraq dominates by the shia religious party supporters AL DAWA party.

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.

"We were there to shut down the operations of the High Commission as the US and British forces began their assault on Baghdad." said spokesperson for the group, Jennifer Copestake. " We were part of a world-wide resistance that saw thousands of people use civil disobedience to 'stand in the way' of the illegal war on Iraq. One year later, after the lies and deceit have been exposed that lead Britain and the United States to attack Iraq, we remain convinced that our actions were not only justified, but necessary."

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.

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

Article 17(a) of the Statute provides that the IST will apply the general principles of criminal law contained in Iraqi criminal law as of 1968, the Iraq Criminal Code of 1969, and the Criminal Procedure Code of 1971, subject to the “provisions of this Statute and the rules made thereunder.”

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.

In the first case, Coalition Forces apprehended Mohammed Khalaf Shakara for planning, coordinating and conducting deadly attacks and kidnappings in Mosul and Baghdad. The defendant would receive $50,000 to $100,000 a month from kidnapping operations in Baghdad. The defendant was charged with violating Article 194 of the Iraqi Penal Code for joining armed groups. The trial court found the defendant guilty of the charge and sentenced him to death.

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.

Precautionary measures deprivation of rights

1. Prevention from acting as guardian, executor or trustee

Paragraph 111 - Prevention from acting as guardian, executor or trustee precludes the convicted party from exercising this authority over others unless it concerns life or property.