Iraq's Unwanted People from Bradley Secker on Vimeo.
Bradley Secker, a U.K based photojournalist, spent two months living in Damascus, Syria in autumn 2010. He spent his time locating LGBT individuals that had fled Iraq in fear of being persecuted because of their sexuality. Gaining the trust of these individuals meant Bradley could see inside the closed diaspora of Iraqi LGBT refugees first hand. His primary aim was to create a photo essay with written, first hand testimonies.
On return to the U.K, Bradley started work on ‘Iraq’s unwanted people’, a short documentary highlighting the problems faced by Iraqi LGBT individuals. The film shows two personal accounts of men living in fear as refugees in Syria. Through photos, interviews and moving image, the film hopes to pose the question as to how, and why, such acts of violence and brutality can be overlooked in a new ‘free’ Iraq.
Film edited and produced by Spindle Films
For more information visit bradleysecker.com
Showing posts with label syria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label syria. Show all posts
Thursday, 10 November 2011
Video: Iraq's Unwanted People
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Why is Sweden deporting asylum seekers to Syria?
Image by syriana2011 via FlickrSweden is continuing to try to remove Syrian asylum seekers, despite the appalling human rights situation in that country.
The attempted removals have led to protests by opposition Social Democrats.
Four Social Democrat leaders wrote to the the Svenska Dagbladet daily:
“The Foreign Ministry (Utrikesdepartementet) has for a long time discouraged people from visiting Syria and is now advising Swedes to leave the country.”
“If the ministry doesn’t deem the country to be safe for Swedes, then why is it acceptable to deport politically active refugees there?” they wrote.
They described it as hypocrisy to stand up for human rights and support cries for democracy on the one hand, and at the same time decline to offer protection to those who have fled a violent regime.
At least 3,500 people according to a new estimate by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), 200 of them children, have been killed during the demonstrations in Syria.
“In the light of this it is both surprising and worrying that the Swedish state is pursuing a restrictive asylum policy where politically active people are forcibly deported into the hands of a regime which uses its entire military superiority to strike down a mainly unarmed and peaceful opposition movement," the Social Democrats wrote.
The website Human Rights 666 reports that threats from Syrian agents were directed at those present Tuesday trying to stop the removal of a Syrian asylum seeker and political activist Fars Mahmoud by Sweden. Activist Mikael Johansson, who runs the website, says:
"How can it be that anyone even consider to send an individual back to a country that is exposing dissidents for punishments that we only believe exists in the world of American movies. Fars Mahmoud was active in a Kurdish movement in Syria – an organization that the regime is brutally persecuting. The Party’s spokesman Mashal Tammo was brutally murdered by the regime’s agents in the town Qamishli 7th of October."
Amongst those present at Stockholm Airport trying to stop the removal of Mahmoud was a local Stockholm city councillor. He confirmed the presence of Syrian Embassy staff with Airport staff and asked that the removal be stopped as a result, but at the time of writing there is no confirmation that it was stopped.
Sweden's neighbour Norway stopped removing asylum seekers to Syria in April, as have most other European countries.
Human Rights 666 has produced letters to the relevant Swedish authorities to protest the removal of Mahmoud.
Saturday, 15 October 2011
Documenting the lives of Iraq's gay refugees
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| Photo credit Bradley Secker |
Iraqi gay refugees may be almost forgotten but one man has photographic proof that they exist.
Back in June the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at NYU School of Law published the report 'A Decade Lost: Locating Gender in U.S. Counter-Terrorism', the first account of how U.S. counter terrorism efforts have undermined the rights of women and sexual minorities.
The report includes the 'collateral damage' from the Iraq war, the hundreds of LGBT people hunted down and killed in Iraq, including some by state actors, and the probably thousands (no one knows) who have fled. The group Iraqi LGBT has been almost solely responsible for documenting the murders.
Another report [PDF], released by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) in September says that attacks on LGBT in Iraq continued in 2010.
Neither report got much play but a new show of photographs by Bradley Secker puts a name to the gay refugees.
'Iraq’s Unwanted People’ ran in First Out Café in London between August and September (It is now possible to see it on his website – www.bradleysecker.com or view Secker taking a journalist round the exhibition on its opening night).
Secker, a U.K based photojournalist, traveled to Damascus, where most of the Iraqis fled to and from which many are now fleeing again in autumn 2010.
Many have fled to Jordan. In May, blog An epilogue to a black orchid reported:
"Iraqi LGBT refugees, in particular, lead shattered lives in Jordan. I have visited many of them in prison cells that closely resemble dreary living rooms and one bedroom apartments."
"The agoraphobic lifestyles LGBT Iraqi refugees have been coerced into are a sign of an ingrained fear of the excessive homophobia we witness in Middle Eastern countries today."
"I have come to know one male-to-female transgender Iraqi refugee, who gathers the will every morning to live within her skin for one more day, swallowing the self-hate and fear of facing young homophobia lined on either side of the streets branching from her door step, armed with slurs, pebbles and whatever happens to be in their grasp; be it hot coffee, tomatoes or sandwiches. It takes unimaginable strength to endure the hit daily, and remind yourself that loving who you are is still worth it."
"The agoraphobic lifestyles LGBT Iraqi refugees have been coerced into are a sign of an ingrained fear of the excessive homophobia we witness in Middle Eastern countries today."
"I have come to know one male-to-female transgender Iraqi refugee, who gathers the will every morning to live within her skin for one more day, swallowing the self-hate and fear of facing young homophobia lined on either side of the streets branching from her door step, armed with slurs, pebbles and whatever happens to be in their grasp; be it hot coffee, tomatoes or sandwiches. It takes unimaginable strength to endure the hit daily, and remind yourself that loving who you are is still worth it."
Gaining the trust of these individuals in Damascus meant Bradley could see inside the closed diaspora of Iraqi LGBT refugees first hand.
His primary aim was to create a photo essay with written, first hand testimonies. Accompanying the images, a short documentary film has been made to further highlight the issue in another medium.
Wrote Gay Middle East:
"Through photos and interviews, the individual accounts are posing questions as to how, and why, such acts of violence and brutality can be overlooked in a new 'free' Iraq."
Some graphic shots show how these people were persecuted.
One who was in the armed forces was blinded in one eye when it was discovered he was not straight. Another had his testicle destroyed in a hammer attack and several others were also beaten and tortured.
One of Secker's strongest images (published here), writes Xav Judd for QX Magazine, is:
"A man gazing over the whitish-beige historic city of Damascus may consider himself blessed by the gods, such is the idyllic nature of the view. And yet, underneath the azure blue skyline of the Syrian capital is a grim reality: life is anything but a fairytale if you are gay."
This man is Bissam, a 41 year-old who had worked as an actor in theatre and TV productions and as an interpreter and translator for the US army and international media operations.He told Judd:
“One afternoon ... my [wife] searched my bags and found a diary and a gay porn DVD. She read through my agenda and discovered about my sexuality and the non-straight life I had led."
"Consequently, she tried to use this information to bribe me – I was threatened with disclosure of my true identity to my family – to get as much as possible out of any settlement. Eventually, my spouse did ‘out’ me and word spread to my whole community."
"This was particularly painful as I had always been one of its pillars and was the one that everybody else looked up to. Now exposed and thus in danger, I left Iraq legally and went to Damascus in an American GMC land cruiser."
“In Syria, I had hardly any money; I was registered and certified as a refugee by UNHCR .. existence meant living on bread and cheese, or even just one egg a day. One plus, though, was that my ‘gay’ life in Damascus was very much alive and well."
"Eventually, I had to leave the country because the recent political upheaval [the Arab revolutions] and sectarian violence made things increasingly dangerous."
“I moved to Turkey. It is very difficult: a foreign culture, different language and I have no friends. And, I have to keep a low profile because the vicinity where I live is very conservative."
In fact, says Judd, just last week, Bissam was hit over the head with a frying pan by a flatmate who had unearthed that he is gay. A September report said that there has been an improvement of the tratment of LGBT refugees in Turkey following much work by numerous agencies.
“I want to find myself," says Bissam. "I have been waiting for years as a nobody, stuck nowhere, for some kind of future. It is not fair; I am not really a refuge, but am in this position just because I am gay. I often thought about killing myself."
"Consequently, she tried to use this information to bribe me – I was threatened with disclosure of my true identity to my family – to get as much as possible out of any settlement. Eventually, my spouse did ‘out’ me and word spread to my whole community."
"This was particularly painful as I had always been one of its pillars and was the one that everybody else looked up to. Now exposed and thus in danger, I left Iraq legally and went to Damascus in an American GMC land cruiser."
“In Syria, I had hardly any money; I was registered and certified as a refugee by UNHCR .. existence meant living on bread and cheese, or even just one egg a day. One plus, though, was that my ‘gay’ life in Damascus was very much alive and well."
"Eventually, I had to leave the country because the recent political upheaval [the Arab revolutions] and sectarian violence made things increasingly dangerous."
“I moved to Turkey. It is very difficult: a foreign culture, different language and I have no friends. And, I have to keep a low profile because the vicinity where I live is very conservative."
In fact, says Judd, just last week, Bissam was hit over the head with a frying pan by a flatmate who had unearthed that he is gay. A September report said that there has been an improvement of the tratment of LGBT refugees in Turkey following much work by numerous agencies.
“I want to find myself," says Bissam. "I have been waiting for years as a nobody, stuck nowhere, for some kind of future. It is not fair; I am not really a refuge, but am in this position just because I am gay. I often thought about killing myself."
Friday, 7 October 2011
Why Syrian LGBT people should join the revolution
Image by ElvertBarnes via FlickrSeven months ago, most Syrian gay men I know were either neutral or pro-Assad. While many have decided later to be on the side of the revolution, some, surprisingly, still believe that this regime is the best for them. However, hope now is in lesbians who have more resilience to fight against this oppressive regime.
I have witnessed over the years how this regime was everything but tolerant when it comes to LGBT people.
- 1980’s and 1990’s were almost the same for gay men in Syria. Back then, only the lucky ones had land phones. Telecommunications in Syria were an image of the 1960’s communications in most other countries. I still remember the angry voice of the centralist when I used to call my grandmother, who actually was related to us somehow! Those difficulties worked side by side with the paranoia most gay Arabs have to limit any possibility of regular inter-gay relationships or friendships.
- 1995 marked my first tries to explore cruising areas. I was often harassed by policemen and/or secret police, who have always tried to intimidate young people to fulfill their sick needs of control.
- In 1996, I was asked several times by secret police for my ID, and told not to sit or go to certain places at certain hours i.e. “not to cruise during peak cruising hours”, if I want to avoid “social humiliation” as they eloquently said.
- In 1998, I personally witnessed a raid on a park in Aleppo. It was horrifying… People were beaten and dragged to police cars. I remember thinking that I have to run in order not to be identified as a “regular cruiser”. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the only raid I have witnessed.
- In 2001, nearly a year after Bashar al-Assad became the current illegitimate president of Syria, raids were made on hammams and cruising areas in Damascus and Aleppo. Police and secret police raided gay places and parties for the next 9 years. Some raids were more regular and reoccurring to form real campaigns targeting gay people in the years of 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2010.
- In 2010, when gay life in Syria started to take some kind of a shape and form, police started their most vicious campaign targeting hammams, cruising areas, and gay parties. More than 35 men were arrested in a single gay party and were exposed to their families and communities. The lucky ones managed to escape to other countries, and the rest were left to face the social punishment.
I remember the day when former Tunisian president Bin Ali fled Tunisia to be the day that brought back my long lost dream of living in free Syria. While I was surrounded by people like me at work, who have always dreamt of a free country, some of my gay friends shocked me with their ignorance of what had been happening to us, gay people, in Syria, and with their little remembrance of what has been happening to gay people over the last decade. Most of them have always known my political views and some of them stopped or at least avoided being in contact with me.
It is a fact that this revolution had reshaped my social relationships. For example, my uncles have become in real enmity with me because most of them do not want the change to reach Syria. However, this doesn’t change the fact that I had never been in good terms with them even before this revolution started.
The last seven months have also revolutionised my homophobic friends’ views on homosexuality with more gays and lesbians joining our group of activists. I preferred to keep my sexuality hidden from them for years, and at some points I regretted it, especially now when I hear the words “gay” and “lesbian” spoken with lesser hate and more acceptance. Nevertheless, I still find it too soon to dream of acceptance by those people who I admire for their courage because homophobic jokes and statements are still being made in the absence of other LGBT people. Yet, it is a dream this revolution has revived as well as many other long lost dreams.
Gay people of Syria should follow the lead of Syrian lesbians who have been fighting for freedom. It is the time for dreams, even though the most desired dream is yet to be accomplished.
Friday, 2 September 2011
Video: New photography show in London portrays gay Iraqi refugees in Syria
Via Gay Middle East
Recorded live on August 30, 2011 - Photographer Bradley Secker discussing his work on a series of images showing the lives of gay Iraqi men seeking refuge in Syria. First Out Cafe, London.
Bradley Secker, a U.K based photojournalist, spent two months living in Damascus, Syria in autumn 2010. He spent his time locating LGBT individuals that had fled Iraq in fear of being persecuted because of their sexuality. Gaining the trust of these individuals meant Bradley could see inside the closed diaspora of Iraqi LGBT refugees first hand.
His primary aim was to create a photo essay with written, first hand testimonies. Accompanying the images, a short documentary film has been made to further highlight the issue in another medium. Through photos and interviews, the individual accounts are posing questions as to how, and why, such acts of violence and brutality can be overlooked in a new 'free' Iraq."
Sunday, 7 August 2011
Video: In Cyprus, asylum detainees suffer violent, unprovoked assault
Source: MissionFreeIran
This clip shows the brutal violence inflicted on the back and neck of an Iranian refugee who came under attack by Cyprus Police during a 12 July 2011 attack on defenseless refugees at Larnaca detention center, a place where denied asylum-seekers are detained, sometimes for years. Approximately 25 refugees came under attack by Cypriot police, and it is reported that all of the refugees were beaten in the same way or worse.
As of 7 August 2011, no official action has been taken by any international authority or human rights organization, including the UNHCR, EU, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Amnesty International, or Human Rights Watch.
Source: KISA - Action for Equality Support and Antiracism in Cyprus
After receiving a series of complaints, KISA has established that there has been an outbreak of police brutality against detainees in almost all towns in Cyprus. In particular, the complaints that have reached us refer to police violence against detainees occurring at the detention centers of Larnaca, Nicosia, and Paphos.
From contacts we have had with family members and detainees who had been victims of this brutal police violence, it seems that the incidents of attacks tended to be in retaliation to the detainees’ protests against their living conditions while in detention and the state’s attempts to deport them. KISA believes that none of the detainees’ protests or actions were in any way aiming to harm other individuals, nor did they require such a disproportionate and violent punishment.
At this point we need to stress that the abuse against detainees was not confined to physical abuse. Members of the police had also verbally abused detainees through the use of insulting and degrading language aimed at particular individuals and their countries of origin, while at the same time humiliating their religious symbols and beliefs.
In addition, when the physical and verbal abuse ceased, the police took a number of restrictive and punitive measures that aimed to further demoralise the detainees. In particular, the police confiscated the detainees’ personal phones thus preventing them to communicate with anyone outside detention, refused to allow their families to visit them, increased the daily hours of cell-confinement, and in some cases detainees were moved to other towns so as to make it even more difficult for them to have contact with their families and the outside world.
Finally, as we were informed, the detainees who could not be deported, such as people from Iran and Syria and stateless persons of Kurdish origin, encountered severe blackmail and psychological warfare in order to agree to “voluntary repatriation”. Especially in relation to Syrians, KISA considers particularly sad the fact that the Republic of Cyprus not only has it not taken a firm and clear position in relation to the brutality of the Syrian regime against the mass rising of the Syrian people, but it continues even today to deport people back to Syria.
KISA condemns all the incidents that have taken place in the detention centres around Cyprus, and urges the authorities to take all appropriate steps to ensure that the rights of all detainees are fully respected.
Friday, 17 June 2011
The real world of gay girls in Damascus
Image via WikipediaBy Daniel Nasser
Despite his attempts, Tom MacMaster, the man behind the fake persona of the Gay Girl in Damascus blogger, never accurately represented the LGBT community in Syria. Lesbians here, or the multiple friends and acquaintances I know personally from that community, all agree that he did not speak to them, from them or about them.
The struggles and fears of the lesbian community in Syria are very different from the politically enhanced, sexually detailed fictional misadventures of MacMaster. "Amina", an outspoken out-of-the-closet lesbian in Syria supported by her family, just did not seem real to me or to my lesbian friends.
Her blogpost, "My father, the hero", was the final nail in Amina's fictional coffin. Aside from the fact that her father's support seemed unreal to us, anyone with a minor knowledge of the regime here knows that the story was unbelievably naive: there is no talking to police officers ordered to bring someone to questioning. There is no speech on planet Earth that could have stopped them from taking Amina. If anything, the fictional speech of the father might have ended in the disappearance of both him and his daughter.
In Syria, where homosexuality is illegal and punishable by three years in prison, the lesbian community faces traditions, forced marriages and family pressure. Syria, like any typical country in the Middle East, smears the lesbian community with labels and misjudgments – and it is these that the community is more interested in facing at the moment.
I was lucky enough to find myself a friend here in Damascus after eight years living abroad. I had run away from the city around the age of 19 following an incident with my father, who was threatening my life after I came out of the closet.
When I came back to the city I did not know anyone. Mariam, a 22-year-old lesbian who happened to be a colleague of mine, took my hand and introduced me to the secret underground lesbian community in Damascus – a community I did not expect to be as strong as it really is.
I got to know many lesbian women here in Damascus: they consider each other family; they call each other sisters and they stand strong to protect one another. The lesbian community here knows that being a gay woman is double the struggle in Syria, where women's rights and gay rights are almost a myth.
Sunday, 12 June 2011
From Damascus with Love: Blogging in a Totalitarian State
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| Not 'Amina' |
Here is the reaction to the unmasking of 'Amina' of actual gay Syrians.
Source: Gay Middle East
By Sami Hamwi and Daniel Nassar
Following the revelation that "Amina" was a hoax two LGBT Syrian Activists speak out.
Sami Hamwi, Gay Middle East Syria
Blogging in Syria has been forbidden by law for more than eight years. As internet started to flourish, many Syrians started to use internet spaces and blogs to write personal thoughts, poetry, short stories… etc. unaware of that fact, but they remained safe as the authorities only monitored political and human rights blogs. LGBT bloggers can manage to keep safe only if their blogs were meant for gossip and entertainment, but they might have to face different kind of difficulties if they reported news or engaged into LGBT rights activism. As soon as any blog starts to attract attention, the agony with authorities’ interference starts.
Syrians police deals with opposition, activists, journalists, bloggers… etc. in 2 main methods, a third one might be added to intimidate the ones who pose “less harm”. For many purposes I will use the word “subject” to refer to people targeted by the Syrian secret police.
The first method is to call the subject and say: “We would like to come over for a chat!!!”, later, when they find it necessary to interview the subject more than once they might say: “Come over for a cup of coffee and a little chat!!!”. Needless to say that this is an “offer” no one can refuse. Those chats are normally friendly and full of “heartfelt advices” by the officer about what to do or not to do; the subject has to comply. Frequent visits are normal for journalists and usually take place every 2-3 months. I have “chatted” with friendly officers for more than 37 times so far and was given valuable advices not to engage into any kind of political activism.
The second method is actual arrests. It is used when the subject is deemed to be “effective and harmless” and/or with connection to the west or western media. Normally no one can find out where the subject had been taken to, what branch of secret police made the arrest, and when the subject will be released if they were ever released. Fortunately, the second method has been never used with me, and I hope this will remain to be the case, but it was used with many of my friends as I mentioned in a previous blog. For days, weeks, months, and sometimes years, I didn’t hear or know any news about those friends. I know two friends who had disappeared a few years back, and I know nothing about them until now.
The third method is what is called in an exact translation “a security study”. Secret police agents go to the subject’s place of residence, work, or home town, they interrogate their relatives, coworkers and/or employers, and they hint at points the subject themselves knows about. This is widely used with LGBT people as a threat to expose to families or employers. People might get killed or at least fired if their homosexuality was exposed as the society is far from being lenient with sexuality issues. I have been a subject of such studies more than 6 times, last one was two days after the upraise in Syria started.
I started to write all this after Amina Araf story was one of the lead stories in the media after her alleged arrest. As I was about to publish my views about her and her stories, I was stunned by the latest post that was published on that blog. Instead of not publishing what I have wrote, I thought people in the west should know about the secret police in Syria, and how they deal with Syrians.
To Mr. MacMaster, I say shame on you!!! There are bloggers in Syria who are trying as hard as they can to report news and stories from the country. We have to deal with too many difficulties than you can imagine. What you have done has harmed many, put us all in danger, and made us worry about our LGBT activism. Add to that, that it might have caused doubts about the authenticity of our blogs, stories, and us. Your apology is not accepted, since I have myself started to investigate Amina’s arrest. I could have put myself in a grave danger inquiring about a fictitious figure. Really… Shame on you!!!
To the readers and the western media I say, there are authentic people in the Middle East who are blogging and reporting stories about the situation in their countries. You should pay attention to these people.
Daniel Nassar
I'm so outraged I can't even type well.
Mr. Tom MacMaster, with due respect, has the audacity to say on the blog he created over the last two years that he did not harm anyone with his fictional writing; I beg to differ.
Because of you, Mr. MacMaster, a lot of the real activists in the LGBT community became under the spotlight of the authorities in Syria. These activists, among them myself, had to change so much in their attitude and their lives to protect themselves from the positional harm your little stunt created. You have, sir, put a lot of lives, mine and some friends included, in harm's way so you can play your little game of fictional writing.
This attention you brought forced me back to the closet on all the social media websites I use; cause my family to go into a frenzy trying to force me back into the closet and my friends to ask me for phone numbers of loved ones and family members so they can call them in case I disappeared myself. Many people who are connected to me spent nights worrying about me and many fights I had with my family were because you wanted to play your silly game of the media.
You feed the foreign media an undeniable dish of sex, religion and politics and you are now leaving us with this holier-than-thou semi-apologize with lame and shallow excuses of how you wanted to bring attention to the right people on the ground. I'm sorry, you're not on the ground, you don't know the ground and you don't even belong to the culture of the people on the group.
You took away my voice, Mr. MacMaster, and the voices of many people who I know. To bring attention to yourself and blog; you managed to bring the LGBT movement in the Middle East years back. You single-handedly managed to bring unwanted attention from authorities to our cause and you will be responsible for any LGBT activist who might be yet another fallen angel during these critical time.
I'm outraged, and if I lived in a country where I can sue you, I would.
- Daniel has blogged further on what harm the Amina hoax has caused
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Gay reporting from the Syrian frontline
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| President Assad |
Gay Middle East's Syrian Editor Sami Hamwi has been reporting for the website as that country descends further into a massive government crackdown on any opposition.
Today it has been reported that Syria is using Iranian tactics and shutting down electronic avenues for activists to communicate with each other and with the outside world.
But Sami has somehow managed to evade the secret police and the army and has posted today that despite President Assad lifting the emergency law, security agencies “secret police” are still arresting, threatening, and, in some places, killing people.
"Any kind of gathering is still forbidden and questioned by the secret police. A few days ago, my friends and I were waiting for a bus a little bit after midnight, when we were questioned by secret police; they checked our phones for videos or pictures, and they asked to check my laptop. Suspecting that we are gay, they made some offensive remarks about LGBT people trying to provoke a response."Sami says that a gay man was arrested after waiters turned him in a coffee shop for watching youtube videos about the protests.
"LGBT people have a lot more to be afraid of these days, especially that the secret police might threaten them to expose them as LGBT people if they “do not cooperate”."
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
Photo essay: Iraq's gay refugees
Image via WikipediaBy Bradley Seeker
The number of homophobic murders in Iraq is reported to be “in the hundreds” according to an official at the UNAMI (United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq), and Ali Hili of London based gay rights group Iraqi LGBT, has recorded more than 700 individuals killed in gay motivated murders. Figures like these are a great cause for concern, raising questions such as how acts of brutality and torture are continuing in a new “liberated”, “free”, and “democratic” Iraq.
Gay men in Iraq have remained a target of the country’s far-right religious militia groups according to 2009 report published by Human Rights Watch (HRW). Members of the Mahdi army, the Shia militia group led by radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, are specifically targeting men believed to be homosexual whether it be based on fact or suspicion. Groups such as Ahl al-Haq (People of Truth) have also publicly claimed responsibility for murders fuelled by homophobia across the country.
As a ramification of ongoing attacks, many gay Iraqis have left their homes and their country, with the most favoured destination being Syria. Despite homosexuality remaining illegal under Syrian law and conviction resulting in a three year prison sentence, gay lives are of course still lived out on the streets of Syria’s cities. For gay Iraqi men fortunate enough to have found temporary refuge in Syria the situation is anything but safe, and their guard can never be fully dropped. With a steady flow of Iraqis heading for Syria since the outbreak of war in 2003, certain areas of Syria are becoming a microcosm of Iraq. The suburb of Saida Zainab outside Damascus is home to a large number of Iraqi refugees as well as a large Shia shrine, which many Iraqis visit including members of the Mahdi army.
Thursday, 27 January 2011
Wikileaks, the US Embassy Cables and Migration Issues
When ‘Cable gate’ – Wikileak’s publication of the US embassies’ reports to the US State Department Washington - hit the headlines in November and December 2010 I was wondering whether there is anything in it for migration and migration policy researchers. So far, I am not aware whether anybody else has already gone through the documents, so I had a quick look. Unfortunately, only a fraction of all cables – 2000 out of 251,000 - are already published on Wikileaks’ website (http://213.251.145.96/cablegate.html).
In short, migration and refugee issues only play a very minor role in the set of documents I have sifted through. And where these are mentioned this is mostly in the context of terrorism, general threats to regional stability and security or with respect to Muslim minority communities. The first impression from these cables is that from the US American consular perspective migration as such is not considered a major issue and is not causing great anxiety whilst Muslim migration and minorities and to some extent border security are issues of concern.
Worldwide: Some reference to migration can be found in the already notorious ‘reporting and collecting needs’ issued by the Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. For instance, the request for West Africa lines out to collect information on ‘population and Refugee Issues’, including ‘population movements in the region, and governments' involvement and response, indications of actual or potential refugee movements within or into the region, locations and conditions of refugee camps and informal refugee and internally displaced persons (IDP) gathering sites and transit routes’ government capability and willingness to assist refugees and IDPs, health and demographic statistics of refugees and IDPs, dynamics and impact of migration and demographic shifts’ (2009, http://213.251.145.96/cable/2009/04/09STATE37566.html). And also in Hungary information is requested on ‘demography, including ...migration’ and ‘plans and efforts to respond to declining birth rates, including through promotion of immigration’ (2009, http://213.251.145.96/cable/2009/06/09STATE62393.html). Similar requests were sent to many other countries.
Sunday, 16 January 2011
Gay Syrian refugee wins battle to stay in Scotland
Image via WikipediaBy Kurt Bayer
A gay Syrian asylum seeker who claimed he would be murdered if deported to his homeland where homosexuality is illegal has finally won his three-year battle to stay in Scotland.
Teenager Jojo Yakob, now 21, fled Syria in 2005 after being arrested, shot, beaten and tortured in jail when he was caught distributing anti-government leaflets. After escaping jail and being trafficked through Europe to Aberdeen, he was jailed in 2008 and held in detention centres while pursuing his case to stay.
Now he has been given "indefinite leave to stay" after Home Office officials accepted his life was at risk if he was returned to the Middle East.
Monday, 15 November 2010
UK MPs accused of ‘abandoning’ gay Briton arrested by Syrian secret police
Three senior Tories have been accused of ‘abandoning’ a Syrian-born Briton who is being held by secret police in Damascus.
Sebastian Akkam, 31, an openly gay shop owner, has been denied access to UK consular staff since his arrest last month. No reason has been given for his detention.
His brother Mohammed said Sebastian had been let down by British establishment ‘friends’ he identified as MP Alan Duncan and former MPs Richard Spring and Michael Portillo.
The trio have privately expressed surprise as to why their names are being linked to the case.
Mr Akkam, who changed his name from Abdo in tribute to Oscar Wilde’s pseudonym Sebastian Melmoth, runs a shop in Damascus which has a shrine to Wilde – a risky move in a country where homosexuality carries a jail sentence.
As a teenager he was held naked for several weeks and badly beaten by the secret police. In 2006 he moved to the UK and took out citizenship on entering into a civil partnership, now dissolved, with a British man.
Thursday, 26 August 2010
After three months in captivity, Syrian gay men released
Image via WikipediaSource: change.org
By Jordan Rubenstein
In March and April, the Syrian government raided more than four private gay parties and arrested 25 young gay men in attendance at the parties. Most of the men were charged with “having a homosexual act,” and some were charged with organizing illegal obscene parties or encouraging homosexual acts.
Syrian law clearly states that engaging in homosexual activity is illegal. Article 520 in the penal code of 1949 prohibits “carnal relations against the order of nature” with a penalty of three years in prison.But does a law against homosexuality really excuse raiding private parties? These men were attending a party behind the closed doors of one of their homes. The Syrian government put men at extreme risk without adequate reasoning to lock them up in the first place. In Syria, the stigma against homosexuality is so bad that the men are now ostracized from their communities.
For three months after the incident, all of the men remained in police custody because their families would not bail them out. Luckily, the men were released from police custody last Thursday. The Syrian authorities released the men without a trial because the Syrian authorities were embarrassed by the attention drawn by the arrests.
Sunday, 11 July 2010
Is Syria 'cracking down' on gays?
Image via WikipediaBy Dan Littauer
It's Pride season in Europe and the Americas. It's a time to celebrate the huge achievements that have and are being made in terms of LGBT rights across this part of world. In Syria, however, things have taken a recent turn for the worse.
Since late March, police have conducted a series of raids on private parties and meeting places, and more than 25 men have been arrested. The arrests are shrouded in secrecy but some information has leaked out.
At the Gay Middle East news website (GME) we have received several testimonies and published two reports from undercover sources in Damascus. In Beirut, Georges Azzi of Helem (the first LGBT advocacy group in an Arab country) confirms that arrests are taking place. Writing for the Huffington Post, Michael Luongo quotes him as saying: "Unfortunately none of our contacts can give us more details at this point. It seems that the police are tracking gay people in Syria now."
Neil Grungras of the US-based Organisation for Refuge, Asylum and Migration (also quoted by Luongo) says: "I too have heard rumours, but nothing concrete of an escalation. That being said, among our clients in Turkey was a gay Palestinian from Syria who spent four years in prison and was severely tortured on trumped-up charges because he was gay."
It seems that some men have now been in jail without bail or visits from family, friends or colleagues for over three months.
To many readers this may sound disheartening but inevitable. Isn't Syria a conservative and deeply religious Islamic country? Actually the reality is different. Syria sees itself as a secular and diverse country. In general, sexual minorities have been more or less left alone – marginally tolerated – as long as they didn't stray into the political arena and start making demands.
But the latest raids mark a frightening new crackdown from the Syrian authorities. They have invoked article 520 of the Syrian penal code of 1949 which outlaws "carnal relations against the order of nature" with a penalty of up to three years' imprisonment. Anyone seen as aiding people under suspicion or convicted of such an offence is also likely to get into trouble with the law. The result is that some unfortunate men have been left to languish in jail and some are alleged to have been treated brutally by the police.
Gay life in Syria is still underground. Private parties and meeting places are essential for LGBT people across Syria. There are no openly gay bars or organisations. People hold private parties in remote places where they hope to go unnoticed and be inoffensive. The authorities know of these gatherings and have tended to overlook them.
The crackdown has hit the heart of Syria's discreet but significant LGBT communities. The men are being held on various grounds including: performing a homosexual act; selling, buying or consuming illegal drugs; organising and promoting "obscene" parties.
A senior Syrian police officer handling the case has said: "The Syrian authorities' major interest is the safety of people. We targeted those parties only because of the increasing rate of drug use, while our presence in those parks and squares is because of the increasing rate of robberies."
While at first glance the "public safety" explanation may sound reasonable, men who are desperately trying to avoid the attention of the police because of their sexuality are not very likely to be robbing people and pushing drugs. In any case, drug use and dealing is much more common and prevalent in big heterosexual venues across Syria which are far more visible and accessible.
Meanwhile, in the last two weeks GME has received information that further arrests have been made of people suspected of cruising in discreet meeting places. Several dozen may now be in prison for "gay offences". Put simply, these raids and arrests seem to have been specifically designed to trap and arrest men suspected of homosexuality; they are unlikely to be anything to do with public safety in Syria.
The outlook is grim for those now under arrest. A conviction for homosexuality in Syria would not merely condemn you to a prison sentence, but upon release you are very likely to be ostracised by family, friends and colleagues. In some cases physical attacks and even "honour killings" have been known to follow. A mere accusation of being homosexual can be a death sentence.
Furthermore, the crackdown is not just a local issue – it has repercussions across the region. Thousands of LGBT Iraqis have relocated to Syria fleeing the horrific violence in their country, their plight made all the more poignant after the Iraqi authorities' recent raid on a safehouse in Karbala.
Now, both Syrian and Iraqi LGBT communities across Syria face an uncertain and unsafe future, the latter terrified of being deported back to Iraq and almost certain death. While some journalists have portrayed this as a broader political issue, LGBT communities across Syria are desperate to avoid such categorisations as they simply want to carry on with their life in a discreet and inoffensive manner.
This is not a "public safety issue" but a human rights one – Amnesty International has been contacted and is looking into the case. Let's hope that good sense may yet prevail in Syria. The Syrian authorities could quietly drop the charges and release these men safely back into their communities (or alternatively find them a safe home in a country that can adopt them). Then Syria could repeal section 520 and allow LGBT people to live their lives without fear or persecution.
• This article was amended on 8 July 2010 to clarify the source of the quotes from Georges Azzi and Neil Grungras.
Since late March, police have conducted a series of raids on private parties and meeting places, and more than 25 men have been arrested. The arrests are shrouded in secrecy but some information has leaked out.
At the Gay Middle East news website (GME) we have received several testimonies and published two reports from undercover sources in Damascus. In Beirut, Georges Azzi of Helem (the first LGBT advocacy group in an Arab country) confirms that arrests are taking place. Writing for the Huffington Post, Michael Luongo quotes him as saying: "Unfortunately none of our contacts can give us more details at this point. It seems that the police are tracking gay people in Syria now."
Neil Grungras of the US-based Organisation for Refuge, Asylum and Migration (also quoted by Luongo) says: "I too have heard rumours, but nothing concrete of an escalation. That being said, among our clients in Turkey was a gay Palestinian from Syria who spent four years in prison and was severely tortured on trumped-up charges because he was gay."
It seems that some men have now been in jail without bail or visits from family, friends or colleagues for over three months.
To many readers this may sound disheartening but inevitable. Isn't Syria a conservative and deeply religious Islamic country? Actually the reality is different. Syria sees itself as a secular and diverse country. In general, sexual minorities have been more or less left alone – marginally tolerated – as long as they didn't stray into the political arena and start making demands.
But the latest raids mark a frightening new crackdown from the Syrian authorities. They have invoked article 520 of the Syrian penal code of 1949 which outlaws "carnal relations against the order of nature" with a penalty of up to three years' imprisonment. Anyone seen as aiding people under suspicion or convicted of such an offence is also likely to get into trouble with the law. The result is that some unfortunate men have been left to languish in jail and some are alleged to have been treated brutally by the police.
Gay life in Syria is still underground. Private parties and meeting places are essential for LGBT people across Syria. There are no openly gay bars or organisations. People hold private parties in remote places where they hope to go unnoticed and be inoffensive. The authorities know of these gatherings and have tended to overlook them.
The crackdown has hit the heart of Syria's discreet but significant LGBT communities. The men are being held on various grounds including: performing a homosexual act; selling, buying or consuming illegal drugs; organising and promoting "obscene" parties.
A senior Syrian police officer handling the case has said: "The Syrian authorities' major interest is the safety of people. We targeted those parties only because of the increasing rate of drug use, while our presence in those parks and squares is because of the increasing rate of robberies."
While at first glance the "public safety" explanation may sound reasonable, men who are desperately trying to avoid the attention of the police because of their sexuality are not very likely to be robbing people and pushing drugs. In any case, drug use and dealing is much more common and prevalent in big heterosexual venues across Syria which are far more visible and accessible.
Meanwhile, in the last two weeks GME has received information that further arrests have been made of people suspected of cruising in discreet meeting places. Several dozen may now be in prison for "gay offences". Put simply, these raids and arrests seem to have been specifically designed to trap and arrest men suspected of homosexuality; they are unlikely to be anything to do with public safety in Syria.
The outlook is grim for those now under arrest. A conviction for homosexuality in Syria would not merely condemn you to a prison sentence, but upon release you are very likely to be ostracised by family, friends and colleagues. In some cases physical attacks and even "honour killings" have been known to follow. A mere accusation of being homosexual can be a death sentence.
Furthermore, the crackdown is not just a local issue – it has repercussions across the region. Thousands of LGBT Iraqis have relocated to Syria fleeing the horrific violence in their country, their plight made all the more poignant after the Iraqi authorities' recent raid on a safehouse in Karbala.
Now, both Syrian and Iraqi LGBT communities across Syria face an uncertain and unsafe future, the latter terrified of being deported back to Iraq and almost certain death. While some journalists have portrayed this as a broader political issue, LGBT communities across Syria are desperate to avoid such categorisations as they simply want to carry on with their life in a discreet and inoffensive manner.
This is not a "public safety issue" but a human rights one – Amnesty International has been contacted and is looking into the case. Let's hope that good sense may yet prevail in Syria. The Syrian authorities could quietly drop the charges and release these men safely back into their communities (or alternatively find them a safe home in a country that can adopt them). Then Syria could repeal section 520 and allow LGBT people to live their lives without fear or persecution.
• This article was amended on 8 July 2010 to clarify the source of the quotes from Georges Azzi and Neil Grungras.
Friday, 25 June 2010
Gay life in Syria
Image via WikipediaThe Gay Middle East website (GME) has published a report summarising the situation for gay people in Syria –a country which is rarely discussed in this connection.
Although "carnal relations against the order of nature" are still punishable by up to three years in jail, GME detects some improvement in the authorities' attitude over the last two years:
During this period, gay and lesbians were occasionally harassed or even imprisoned (one notable exception was the case of an asylum seeker to the UK), but the majority, if they behaved very cautiously and did not come out or demanded rights were left alone with minor harassment.
However, it suggests that an AFP report last year, headed “Syrian gays edge gingerly out of the closet” was "a bit exaggerated".
GME continues:
The increase of accessibility to the internet for Syrians, albeit under very strict control, has enabled many gays and lesbians for the first time to communicate, network and develop a nascent self-consciousness. The Syrian authorities seem to have been quick to catch up with this trend.
Members of the LGBT Syrian communities now exercise extreme caution when contacting each other or exposing their identity on the web. This is because the Syrian Secret police has now increased their presence on the web and try to intercept gays and lesbians by chatting to them as potential dates or mates.
Syria has also moved to block various LGBT related sites and search terms. In the last months GME has received increasing complaints ... on police raids. In recent raids over private parties 25 gay men were arrested ... They are now at least several weeks held under arrest without bail and face a very uncertain future.
Saturday, 8 May 2010
Blogging behind closed doors
By Michael K Lavers
Khalid knows how frightening it can be to live in a country where being gay is taboo.
In 2007, Khalid agreed to appear on the inaugural cover of MK, the first gay magazine in Jordan. But the shirtless photo of the young man caused a stir after the tabloids caught wind of it. The outcry was so fierce the magazine never published.
"I was still in school at the time," Khalid told Guide magazine from his home in Amman, the capital of Jordan. "People were talking about it in my school, and they didn't know it was me at the time. It was very scary because there was no one in the whole Arab world " the Middle East " who was out in the media."
Although Khalid says he never felt his life was in danger, he did face blackmail attempts from those who threatened to out him to his parents. He hid out in neighboring Lebanon until the scandal had passed.
"It's very simple as I'm talking about it, but at the time it was very big because no other media was talking about homosexuality," Khalid said. "But now, everyone in Jordan is talking about it. That's a big step in two years."
The 21-year-old model eventually returned to Jordan, where he launched the monthly webzine My Kali to give Arab gays "a better image to look up to."
"Most of the people here look to English, European and American publications," Khalid said. "Those images don't really apply here. I just wanted to give people a different image to which [they] can relate."
Khalid, who asked that his last name not be used, is one of a growing number of gays around the world who have launched online publications. Their sites serve as virtual community centers and are an increasingly important source of news and information for gays in their own countries and others around the world.
But this online activism is often dangerous, which is why most of the bloggers quoted in this article asked that their full names not be used. Some countries in which gay bloggers work ban homosexuality. Laws designed to curb homosexual activity often carry steep prison sentences --and sometimes the death penalty. Homophobic attitudes can prove equally harmful.
Sunday, 4 April 2010
Syria: Police raids two gay parties in Damascus on the same day
Image by CharlesFred via FlickrGME Reporter in Syria: Mutanabbi
Gay men in Syria try to have private parties in remote places where they do not cause any kind of disturbance to others trying to avoid any inconveniences that might be inflected on them.
On the 25th of February 2010, there were two private parties in Damascus, each one was at least 3 km far from the nearest inhabitant area, yet the police managed to raid those two parties depending on a tip given to a policeman by a bar owner in Damascus who overheard a phone conversation discussing the parties. Fortunately, a gay man was present at the time and he called a few guys he knew that were going to those parties, warning them about the raids. When the police arrived everyone had already left and no arrests were made.
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Friday, 5 March 2010
Lesbian sexuality in Arab literature discussed on Arab TV channel
Source: bekhsoos.com
Earlier last month, Washington DC-based Al Hurra channel discussed the issue of lesbian sexuality in Arab literature on its program “Qareeb Jeddan.”
The show hosted Elham Mansour from Lebanon, author of possibly the most famous Arabic-language novel with a lesbian plot “Ana Hiya Anti” (tr. I Am You) and Samar Yazbeck from Syria who wrote “Ra’ihat Al Qorfa” (tr. The Smell of Cinnamon) which Bekhsoos reviewed back in June 2008. The topic of lesbianism was tackled with respect and professionalism, moving between discussing homosexuality and homophobia in the Arab region to discussing LGBT literary characters specifically.
At one point, the host asks Elham Mansour if any of the lesbian characters in “Ana Hiya Anti” was based on her personal experience. To this, and without hesitating, she answers: “yes” and recounts her personal story meeting a lesbian woman who fell in love with her in college and understanding sexuality through that experience. Perhaps there was a lot more the program needed to highlight, but we’re not going to be picky! It was refreshing to see an Arabic program that addressed female homosexuality openly without hiding behind clichés, stereotypes, and the sensationalism we got used to with other channels… *cough* LBC *cough.*
Kudos to Al Hurra! Please leave them a comment on their episode on YouTube or write them on qareebjeddan@alhurra.com to encourage lesbian-positive Arabic programs.
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Tuesday, 16 February 2010
Gay refugees safer in U.S., but still not safe enough
By David Taffet
Yousif Ali, 24, and Nawfal Muhamed, 20, are safe in Houston. But life is difficult.
The two have been denied food stamps. Jobs are not easy to find. The Sharpstown neighborhood where they live is dangerous. Neither man speaks English well. And the American relief agency that helps refugees has no services for gay men.
But all that aside, the two gay Iraqi refugees have asylum status and are safer here than they were in Iraq.
In Baghdad, Ali was kidnapped and raped. His boyfriend was murdered.
“Kidnapped many times,” Ali said. “I tried to escape. They put knife in my foot.”
He blamed the Mahdi Militia.
After escaping, he said, he called an Iraqi LGBT group in London. They told him to go to Syria and contact the United Nations. He made it to Syria by bus.
He said there are checkpoints every mile of the trip.
“If they think you are gay, they tell you ‘Go out from the car.’ Take them to unknown place and disappear,” Ali said.
He said that life in Iraq is difficult for everyone because of the war. But for those who are gay, life is intolerable.
Living on savings in Syria, Ali rented a room. He met Muhamed, who had escaped to Damascus when he was 16. He also wanted to move to the west, but was afraid to go to the U.N. office to request refugee status. Although his life was in constant danger in Iraq, he was afraid of U.N. forces that he thought would abuse him if he told them he is gay.
Muhamed’s parents were dead. His brother and sister know he is gay but he is not close to them. He has a boyfriend who is still in Iraq. In Syria he had another boyfriend who is also still there, but he said that one is bisexual and felt safe.
Ali’s family does not know he’s gay. They think a bomb caused the wounds to his foot and that he came to the United States to receive medical treatment. They do not know about the kidnappings.
Ali was granted refugee status first and given asylum in the United States. About seven months ago, he was given a plane ticket through London to Houston. He said he is paying back the airline fare, $35 a month. Muhamed arrived a month later. In his application, Muhamed said he had a friend in Houston. He begged them to send him to Texas, but instead he was given a ticket to Nashville.
“Catholic Charities and U.N. separated us,” Mohamed said. He said that their refugee services only help families, not singles.
Bruce Knotts is the executive director of the Unitarian Universalist United Nations office. He said theirs is the only faith-based U.N. office with full-time staff advocating for LGBT rights. He is familiar with Ali and Muhamed’s case.
Once certified by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, they were resettled, Knotts said. The United States has accepted those seeking asylum based on sexual orientation since a law passed during the Bush administration that was introduced by Rep. Barney Frank.
Knotts said that the United States takes in more refugees than all other countries combined, but that Canada does a better job taking in LGBT asylum-seekers.
Catholic Charities provides many of the services in this country for refugees and is funded through the federal government. Their Web site says they provide “Apartment rent and furnishings.” Ali said that their Iraqi neighbors in Houston got both. He was given a bare apartment. Knotts agrees that Catholic Charities offers families services and provides for basic needs that they have denied the gay men.
When Muhamed arrived in the United States, he was assigned a straight roommate in Nashville. So he contacted Ali and bought a bus ticket to Houston where the two were reunited.
Life in Houston has been difficult. Ali said that he was given food stamps when he first came to this country but then the food stamps were cut off and does not know why. He has reapplied.
The only job he has gotten was working in a warehouse two hours a day. The job was a long drive from his apartment, and it cost more to commute than he was being paid. He’s looking for full-time work.
Knotts explained that the food stamps were cut off when Ali got the part-time job. He said one of the things the men need is someone who can help walk them through the system and advise them about getting job training and full-time work.
Muhamed said he would like to find employment but he has never worked. “Only high school,” he said. Ali explained that Muhamed has never worked before. While in high school he was kidnapped and raped and fled to Syria where he lived for four years and was not allowed to work.
Their Houston neighborhood is dangerous. Sharpstown has a large Iraqi immigrant population. Knotts said the two men are still living among the same people who tormented them in Iraq. At the Creating Change conference in Dallas last weekend, Knotts said they connected the two men with a Unitarian church in Houston and the Houston GLBT Community Center.
Knotts said, “They need friends.”
He emphasized they are here legally and need help applying for their green cards because both are eligible to work. They need someone to help them access the language classes, vocational training and other services the federal government funds Catholic Charities to provide to refugees. And, he said, they need to move to a gay-friendly neighborhood.
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