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 Ali al-Sistani
Basher, a 27-year-old university student and coordinator of Iraqi LGBT, was shot at close range while he visited a barber shop, according to UK based Australian activist Peter Tatchell.
"Militias burst in and sprayed his body with bullets at point blank range.
"He was the organiser of the safe houses for gays and lesbians in Baghdad. His efforts saved the lives of dozens of people.
"Bashar was a kind, generous and extremely brave young man – a true hero who put his life on the line to save the lives of others.
"My thoughts go out to his loved ones and to the other members of Iraqi LGBT.
"Their courage is an inspiration to all people everywhere fighting against tyranny and injustice," Tatchell said in a statement.
The Tasmanian-born activist said the liberation of Iraq from the Saddam Hussein regime had not been good news for LGBTs in the war-torn country.
“Islamist death squads are engaged in a homophobic killing spree, with the active encouragement of leading Muslim clerics, such as Moqtada al-Sadr.
“One of these clerics, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani (pictured), the spiritual leader of Shia Islam, issued a fatwa urging the killing of lesbians and gays in the ‘worst, most severe way possible’.”
Iraqi gay activist and refugee, Ali Hili, told Newsweek magazine last month that Iraq’s “government, security forces, judiciary and religious establishment are complicit in terrorising gays”.
Iraqi LGBT, the London NGO that Bashar worked for, claims more than 430 gay men have been murdered in Iraq since the fall of the Saddam regime in 2003.
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