Fear and Survival: Being LGBTQ in Iraq - BBC World Service

May 14, 2022 | For Iraq’s LGBTQ+ community, life is difficult and dangerous. In a society that sees itself as modest, traditional and deeply religious, many refuse to believe in anything other than heterosexuality. Being gay or non-binary doesn’t break any laws, but people in these groups still live in fear.

Every day the community faces physical violence, or even the fear of being murdered if their secret is uncovered. Sexual assaults are also common, and the toll on their mental health is severe.

BBC journalist Anna Foster meets three young LGBTQ+ people in Iraqi Kurdistan and hears about the abuse they’ve experienced and their hopes for the future. In a place where many people believe society is changing and modernising, that’s far from the reality for them.

Correspondent: Anna Foster
Senior producer: Stephanie Constantine
Produced, filmed and edited by Jewan Abdi

After Escaping Certain Death in the Middle East, Gay Man Faces New Challenges in America

May 26, 2021 A young man’s life was in danger. Seen as too gay, too western, or both, his safety and that of his family were constantly threatened - even resulting in death of a family member. Thanks to hard work and a Fulbright scholarship, he was able to enroll in grad school and relocate to the United States. While his new home country offered a more hospitable environment for living an openly gay life, he quickly learned that while his life was no longer in danger, persecution of another kind was ever-present.

Syria: Prison Attack is Latest Sign of ISIS Resurgence

THE NEW YORK TIMES: ISIS has mounted a series of sophisticated attacks recently in both Syria and Iraq, suggesting the group is re-emerging as a serious threat three years after it was driven out.

Mourners gathered in shrine in the city of Najaf last week to pay respects to an Iraqi soldier killed in an Islamic State attack. | Ali Najafi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
BAGHDAD — An audacious attack on a Syrian prison that houses thousands of Islamic State detainees. A series of strikes against military forces in neighboring Iraq. The dissemination of a video showing the beheading of a kidnapped Iraqi police officer.

The evidence of a resurgence of Islamic State in Syria and Iraq is mounting by the day, three years after the militants lost their last territorial foothold in the so-called caliphate, which once stretched across vast parts of the two countries. The fact that ISIS was able to mount multiple, coordinated and sophisticated attacks is evidence that what had been believed to be disparate sleeper cells are re-emerging as a more serious threat.

“It’s a wake-up call for regional players, for national players that ISIS is not over, that the fight is not over,” said Kawa Hassan, Middle East and North Africa director at the Stimson Center, a Washington research institute. “It shows the resilience of ISIS to strike back at the time and place of their choosing.” » | Jane Arraf | Tuesday, January 25, 2022

Saddam Hussein's Doctor Reveals the Man Behind the Tyrant

Jun 14, 2018 • Under the Skin of Saddam (2004): Ala Bashir was Saddam's personal doctor for 22 years. despised by the Ba'ath party hierarchy, he nonetheless managed to survive the fall of the regime by getting close to Saddam when it mattered.

A Love Story: James St. James on the Film Out of Iraq w/ Nayyef Hrebid and Btoo Allami

More about this love story here

World of Wonder: More info »

World of Wonder »

Out of Iraq – Documentary Shows Gay Love and Risk in Iraq

Jun 8, 2016 • OUT OF IRAQ is a documentary about two enlisted men in Iraq – one an Iraqi soldier, the other a U.S. translator – who fall in love before being forced to flee when one becomes the target for an honor killing. Nayyef and Btoo, the subjects of the new documentary, and director Chris McKim discuss the creation of the film, homosexuality in Iraq and the humanitarian efforts of Michael Failla in this episode of BYOD hosted by Ondi Timoner.

Exclusive: 'The Middle East Does Not Need Another War' Says Iraqi President

The president of Iraq, Barham Salih, tells Sky News about his fears over heightening tensions between America and Iran.

Could Iraq Be Pulled into a Conflict between the United States and Iran? | Inside Story

The United States is raising the stakes against what it calls threats from Iran. President Donald Trump is sending an extra 1,500 troops to the Middle East. He's also bypassing Congress to sell billions of dollars' of weapons to Iran's rivals, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Iran's neighbour, Iraq, is vowing support and offering to mediate. At the same time, Iraq is wary of straining relations with the Americans.

How should leaders in Baghdad handle this balancing act?

Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra | Guests: Andreas Kreig - Assistant Professor, Defence Studies Department, King's College London; Sami Nader - Director, The Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs; Robert Gutsche - Associate Professor, Lancaster University

US Embassy in Iraq Orders Non-emergency Staff to Leave | Al Jazeera English

The US State Department has ordered all non-emergency government employees to leave Iraq immediately. This comes amid rising tensions in the region. Last week the US deployed warships to the Gulf in a move it said was a response to indications of threats from Iran. Al Jazeera's Rob Matheson joins us live from Baghdad.

Iraq's Oldest Christian Town Celebrates Easter without Isis

THE GUARDIAN: Hamdaniya has been reclaimed from the extremists who made it a hotbed of violence

The church ceiling was still scorched and some cherished relics missing, but after five years of war and exile, their tormentors were finally gone.

When the men and women of Iraq’s oldest Christian town gathered for Easter mass this weekend, they did so knowing that the Islamic State extremists who had chased them away were not coming back. Their battlefield defeat two months ago meant the people of Hamdaniya (also called Qaraqosh) could once again celebrate without fear.

A large congregation shuffled into pews that only two years ago lay in splintered ruin, both in the Church of the Immaculate Conception and every other church in Hamdaniya, which, like much of the rest of northern Iraq, had been overrun by extremists from Isis.

A priest in bright red robes holding a gold crosier in one hand and a small cross in the other spoke in Syriac only blocks away from where militants plotted chaos and even genocide for vulnerable communities. » | Martin Chulov in Hamdaniya | Sunday, April 21, 2019

What Is Trump's Strategy for Syria and the Region? l Inside Story

For the first time since he became president two years ago, Donald Trump visited American troops in a conflict zone - Iraq. His surprise three-hour stop was at an air base west of Baghdad the day after Christmas. He didn't meet any of the Iraqi leadership but invited Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi to the White House in the New Year.

Trump used the opportunity to defend the withdrawal of troops from Syria saying it was made possible by the defeat of ISIL. But critics have condemned what they see as the president's increasingly isolationist foreign policy saying it will give ISIL a chance to re-group.

Trump says the work of US forces is complete, and regional forces will ensure ISIL remains dismantled. It's reported Trump also wants to reduce the number of US troops in Afghanistan from 14,000 to 7,000.

What is Trump's strategy for the region and what message is he trying to send?

Presenter: Mohammed Jamjoom | Guests: Ali Al-Nashmi, Political Analyst; Peter Galbraith, Former U.S. Ambassador; Afzal Ashraf, University of Nottingham

Saddam Hussein: 'I Knew Saddam'

Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi president, was executed on December 30, 2006. His death, like his life, was filled with controversy.

Saddam Hussein was born into humble beginnings, but his straightforward, brutal efficiency eventually propelled him to power. By 1979 he had absolute control of Iraq, and had become a prominent figure on the world stage.

I Knew Saddam was first broadcast on Al Jazeera English in 2007.

The Debate: After Mosul: How to Win Peace in Iraq?

Amir Ashour, the Queer Face of Iraq (June 2016)

Interview with the founder of IraQueer, the first movement to come out openly in the country torn by sectarian militias and partly controlled by Isis. Ashour, who lives in Sweden, has reported about the very dangerous life of the LGBT community in his native country during a meeting organized in London in the Baker & McKenzie Law Firm.

Amir Ashour - BBC Interview

IraQueer's Executive Director, Amir Ashour talks about our work and the influence of the travel ban on the LGBT+ movement in Iraq/KurdistanRegion

Iraq: Christian Community Now a Ghost Town

CNN's Ben Wedeman returns to the once-prosperous Christian community of Qaraqosh, Iraq, which was recently liberated from ISIS.

Christianity Is 'Over' in Iraq and Will Not Return, Says Former Vicar of Baghdad

THE INDEPENDENT: War-torn Middle Eastern nation was once home to around 1.5m Christians. There are now thought to be less than 250,000

Christianity is all but dead in war-torn Iraq, according to the so-called British “Vicar of Baghdad”.

Canon Andrew White, who was vicar of the only Anglican church in the country before being pulled out in 2014, said the “time has come” where Christianity “is over” in Iraq.

Mr White, from Kent, was speaking in a Fox News interview as the Iraqi military continues its offensive to drive Isis out of its major Iraqi stronghold Mosul, and after Donald Trump attempted to enforce a travel ban against six Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and north Africa.

“The time has come where it is over, no Christians will be left,” Mr White said. » | Peter Walker | Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Is the US Really in a Position to Lecture Iraq on Democracy, Press Freedom & Protecting Minorities?

Mosul Offensive: New Phase in Battle for Iraq's Second City (Parts 1 & 2)

Trump Casually Hints At Next War In Iraq

Donald Trump casually dropped hints at a possible next war in Iraq during his interview Wednesday night on ABC News with David Muir. He also laid out his philosophy that the media and the public shouldn't know about military action until after it takes place.