Teenagers in Iraq believed to be gay have become the target of organized killings that have claimed at least 15 lives, with Shiite militias distributing lists of targets warning of further assaults, officials and human rights groups say. The militias’ victims are so-called emos, who imitates a Western fad of wearing tight-fitting black clothes and unusual hairstyles. In the West, emo refers only to dress and musical preference and carries no connotation about a person’s sexual orientation, but in Iraq is associated with homosexuality. The government denies there is any campaign, but medical officials say at least 15 have been killed in the past month, including seven who were stoned to death, five shot and one beaten to death. Human rights groups say the toll is higher and accuse the security forces of a cover-up. In the Shiite Muslim bastion of Sadr City in north Baghdad a militia calling itself the Brigades of Anger has posted leaflets naming 22 youths to be “punished.”
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