Iranian militia declares Iraq is ‘not a country for filthy homosexuals’ in chilling rant
Ali Al-Husseini, an official for the Iranian-sponsored Popular Mobilisation Units (Twitter/@MEMRIReports)
A ‘pro-Iranian enforcer’ in Iraq has declared that Iraq is not a country for “filthy” homosexuals, in a move that LGBT+ activist Peter Tatchell says is leveraging homophobia to “eliminate anti-government protesters”.
In a video posted on Thursday, Ali Al-Husseini of the Iranian-sponsored Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU) launched an anti-gay diatribe ahead of a planned demonstration against the Iraqi government and US forces in Iraq.
“Iraq is not a country for collaboration, espionage, Joker [gangs], or homosexuals,” he said, according to a translation by The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) .
“Every day, I hear you call people filthy. [But] you are the filthy ones! Your families are filthy – filthy; You are the filthy ones! Your families are filthy. You were brought up in filth.
“You were brought up in the streets by the Baath [Party], by its female comrades, and by the filthy and accursed pro-Saddam Baathists. Inshallah [God willing], when we go to the squares for our million-man demonstration, we will end all this.”
PMU Official Ali Al-Husseini Threatens: We Will Eliminate the Anti-Government Protesters; Iraq Is Not a Country for Filthy Collaborators, Homosexuals pic.twitter.com/GIAE6Ztfj2
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) January 16, 2020
He continued: “If God so wills it, we will shut down [the anti-government protesters’] squares of prostitution, humiliation, Joker [gangs], spies, scandal and abasement.
“Our square is the square of resistance, heroes, mujahideen [jihadists], and rejection of the occupiers. Inshallah, we shall eliminate them and drive them out of Iraq, by the power of God, the Prophet’s family, the mujahideen, and the resistance axis.”
“If God wills it, we will shut down [anti-government protesters’] squares of prostitution, humiliation… spies, scandal and abasement; eliminate them and drive them out of Iraq,” the official said.
LGBT+ and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell told The Jerusalem Post: “He’s using homophobia in a bid to discredit a legitimate popular movement.
“His threat to eliminate anti-government protesters is chilling. It shows that the PMU militias intend to enforce the same tyranny in Iraq as their masters enforce against the people of Iran.”
He added that, as a pro-Iranian enforcer in Iraq, “Al-Husseini has been responsible for shooting dead Iraqi civilians who were peacefully protesting against the corruption, poverty and austerity imposed by the Tehran-backed government in Baghdad.”
Iran’s regime imposes the death penalty LGBT+ people, and between 4,000 and 6,000 gays and lesbians are believed to have been executed by Iran’s judiciary so far, according to a 2008 British WikiLeaks cable.
