Iraqi young people experimenting with unconventional forms of self-expression are being targeted by militias and other para-military groups, writes Salah Nasrawi It comes as little surprise that people are still being viciously killed in violence-torn Iraq, but the fact that teenagers are now being butchered en masse for reasons other than routine political or sectarian ones has been somewhat unexpected. Human rights groups and the local and international media have reported that dozens of Iraqi young people whose behaviour is perceived to be unconventional have been murdered over recent weeks amid a lack of government or communal action to stop the killings. Local militia groups have distributed lists of the names of those targeted, warning of further assaults. The reports are particularly disturbing since their come amid signs that Iraqis are making efforts to heal and rebuild their country following the withdrawal of the last US troops from Iraq in December after nine years of foreign occupation. According to the reports, some 90 teenage boys have been killed in the witch-hunt over the past month, with local and international human rights groups saying the death toll could be far higher. In some cases, girls were also wounded in beatings that were intended as "warnings", the reports said. The victims, loosely described as "emos", have been either beaten to death or shot dead. Some were stoned to death or abducted and then had their heads smashed in with concrete blocks. Activists have accused the police of a cover-up, and eyewitnesses quoted in the Iraqi media have said that police moved in after all such incidents and evacuated bodies usually left to paramedics or ambulances. Gruesome pictures have appeared on Facebook and Youtube, apparently as a warning to others. "No more 'emos'. Let's finish them off," read one banner posted on an Iraqi social-networking site. Emo, an abbreviation for emotional, is a cultural lifestyle or trend that originated in the United States in the 1980s. It first emerged as a style of punk music that focussed on the individual and later evolved into a social movement for people labelled as being variously over-emotional. In Iraq, the trend appeared after the US-led invasion in 2003, apparently influenced by outreach to popular American culture. Comments on websites run by former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein loyalists blamed the US for spreading the phenomenon among Iraqi youth after the invasion. Groups of Iraqi young people started to appear with floppy or glossed hair. In some cases, they wore eye make-up and dressed in tight jeans and jewelry such as wristbands, ear rings and bracelets. Later, it became common to see such young people gathering in cafes or elsewhere to discuss their lives and complain about being misunderstood by conservative Iraqi society. Meanwhile, mainstream society associated them with mental illness, some commentators describing the young people as homosexuals, devil worshipers and blood-suckers. No group has claimed responsibility for the killings, but militants in Shia neighbourhoods in Baghdad where most of the killings have taken place have circulated hit lists naming more youths targeted to be killed if they do not change the way they dress and act. Human rights groups say the attacks could have been encouraged by the Iraqi government, adding that the killings have come in the wake of warnings by the Interior Ministry following a long-standing campaign of gay-bashing in the country. A statement on the ministry website said that the "emos" were "Satanists", ordering the police to stamp them out. Iraq's government, led by religious Shia groups, seems to have started to crack down on the country's growing subculture, such as emo groups among young people. The Education Ministry has urged schools to crack down on what it considers to be abhorrent behaviour. The government, however, has denied any responsibility for the killings, with the Interior Ministry saying on 8 March that it had not recorded any anti-gay or anti-emo killings. The killings had been for "revenge, or social, criminal, political or cultural reasons", it said. Government spokesman Ali Al-Dabbagh denied that the government was pursuing the emos, adding that it was government policy to protect personal freedoms. The Baghdad police department accused the Al-Qaeda terrorist group and prominent Sunni opposition leader Harith Al-Dhadri of being behind "the rumours of the killings" in an attempt to block efforts to hold an Arab summit later this month in Baghdad. However, the killings have drawn so much attention that some lawmakers have demanded an official probe and urged the government to take additional measures to stop them. Top Shia clerics including Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani have also warned their followers against taking the law into their own hands, describing the killings as a threat to national peace. Even hardline Shia cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr, who has called the emos "crazy fools" and whose militia group is suspected of the killings, has told his followers to "end the scourge of emos, but to act within the law". While Islam calls for decency and morality to be observed, it does not impose a single dress code or lifestyle. However, homosexuality is often considered a criminal offence in some Muslim countries, and it is one that can attract severe penalties. In Iraq, a 2001 decree issued by the government of Saddam Hussein laid down the death penalty for homosexuality. After the collapse of the Saddam regime in 2003, Islamist militias in Iraq targeted gays to preserve their religious idea of purity. Since then, hundreds of gay Iraqis have been killed because of their sexual orientation. Hundreds of women accused of prostitution have also reportedly been killed, some by beheading. The new wave of killings has sparked fears among Iraqi young people of a new period of harassment as a result of their choice of alternative lifestyles, raising concerns among Iraqis as a whole of increasing intolerance. Many Iraqi commentators have also noted double standards at play, accusing the government of failing to stop terrorism-related violence and turning a blind eye to corruption. Some lawmakers have warned that the harassment and the killings will further undermine personal freedoms in Iraq, turning the country into a jungle. "Today, it is the emos. Tomorrow, it could be anyone who chooses to live their life in their own way," said member of parliament Khaled Shwani, a Kurd.
