Tag: Iraq

This is exactly what it's like to be LGBTI under ISIS Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, fell to ISIS in June 2014. Everyone was affected, but so-called Islamic State targeted gay people in particular. It took nine months of intense military operations from Iraqi forces and their allies to recapture Mosul in July 2017. But for those three years, ISIS executed LGBTI people by blindfolding them and throwing them off rooftops, as well as stoning them. Daesh (ISIS) also enforced strict clothing limitations....

But there are no plans to build a memorial to LGBTI victims of Islamic State Iraq authorities are bulldozing a building that was home to hundreds of Islamic State (IS) homophobic crimes. Many men accused of being gay were thrown off the seven-storey building that was once home to the National Insurance Company in Mosul. The building, ravaged by the battle to end IS rule, will be removed. IS were finally removed from Mosul in the summer of 2017. A new government building will...

My name is Ahmed* and I’m 18-years-old. I’ve lived in Iraq my entire life. For the first 14 years of my life, my family was everything to me. Although they’re very strict, I loved them very much. But when I came out as a transgender man four years ago, my life changed for the worse. There was hardly a day when I wasn’t verbally abused, beaten, or locked up by someone in my family after I came out. I started running away...

Abu Omer, known as "White Beard," was arrested in Mosul. An infamous ISIS leader reported to have overseen the executions of civilians suspected of being gay has been captured by Iraqi security forces. Abu Omer, known as “White Beard” because of his long facial hair, was arrested on January 1 after locals in Mosul reported he was in the city. The Islamic State has taken credit for murdering dozens of men accused of homosexuality in Iraq and Syria. Often the victims are...

As we wrap up our recovery from our NYE celebrations, here's one more of our big stories of 2017. Ellen gave us a lot of great things to love this year, but this one was the biggest hit she gave Instinct. Now this is heartwarming! Former Iraqi soldiers, Nayyef and Btoo, are the subject of the recent documentary film, Out of Iraq. The film chronicles the history of their relationship, starting with when they fell in love during the Iraq war, to...

RIP Karar Noshi Actor Karar Noshi was reportedly kidnapped and killed in Baghdad, Iraq for ‘looking gay’. A graduate student of Baghdad University’s College of Fine Arts had a large following online due to his long blond hair and fashionable style. Many called him the ‘Beauty King of Iraq’. Noshi’s body was dumped on a street in central Baghdad, Kurdistan 24 are reporting, with evidence ‘he had been tortured and viciously stabbed’. People have posted a picture claiming it to be his body’s...

Now this is heartwarming! Former Iraqi soldiers, Nayyef and Btoo, are the subject of the recent documentary film, Out of Iraq. The film chronicles the history of their relationship, starting with when they fell in love during the Iraq war, to then being separated for many years, before eventually being granted asylum in the west, and ultimately, getting married. The couple, who currently reside in Seattle, work with LGBT youth who have similarly fled from the middle east, in search of a better life. Ellen...

The story of two gay men that met during Iraq war and fell in love with each other is now available in a documentary titled Out of Iraq, and you can watch the trailer below. The two men met in 2004. Nayyef Hrebid and Betu Allami were both involved in the Iraq war. Nayeyef was a translator for U.S. militia and Betu a soldier with the Iraqi Army. They met during a mission involving the reclaim of Ramadi General Hospital that had...

Loving a same-sex person is not easy when circumstances are not in your favor. Love can be difficult for everyone, but in the end love conquers all. This is what happened in the case of Betu Allami and Nayyef Hrebid, two men who felt for each other during Iraq war. Betu and Nayyef met 12 years ago in Ramadi where they were both part of a mission to regain the local hospital that had been taken over by insurgents. Betu was...