Gay Iraqis are claiming a rare success following a decision by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to remove from his website a fatwa calling for the killing of homosexuals. Until this month the Shia leader's site contained the words: "What is the judgement for sodomy and lesbianism? Forbidden. Punished, in fact, killed. The people should be killed in the worst, most severe way possible."
Now that has changed, after two weeks of negotiations between al-Sistani's office and the London office of Iraqi LGBT, which represents a clandestine network of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Iraq. The talks began after the group accused the ayatollah of encouraging a wave of murders of gay men and lesbians and denounced his message as un-Islamic. Al-Sistani's office demanded that the criticism be withdrawn, and when Iraqi LGBT refused, talks began.
While the group welcomes the removal of the demand for the killing of male homosexuals, it is angry that there has been no change to the message in relation to lesbians. Nor does the change mean that the fatwa itself is revoked: the ayatollah's views are officially unchanged and it is only the website that has been altered.
"This decision does not go far enough," said Ali Hili, who heads Iraqi LGBT-UK. "We want the entire fatwa withdrawn, including the hateful denunciation calling for the punishment of lesbians."
Regarded as a political moderate, the Iranian-born al-Sistani is a religious hardliner and this issue gives a taste of the harsh interpretation of Islamic law he is ready to see imposed on all Iraqis. The gay and lesbian people now being persecuted and murdered are among the first victims, but they won't be the last if the fundamentalists and their militias continue to grow in power and influence.
