PinkNews.co.uk – Marc Shoffman
Iraqi gays are claiming success following the decision of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to remove from his website a fatwa calling for the killing of homosexuals in the “worst, most severe way possible”.
The removal on 10 May 2006 follows protests to Mr Sistani by the London office of the Iraqi gay rights organisation, Iraqi LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender), which represents a clandestine network of lesbian and gay activists inside Iraq’s major cities, including Baghdad, Najaf, Karbala, Hilla, Duhok and Basra.
Following two weeks of negotiations with Iraqi LGBT ? UK, Mr Sistani’s office agreed to remove the fatwa calling for the murder of gay men, but refused to remove the fatwa urging punishment for lesbianism.