The U.S. news service, CNN quoting reports issued by Human Rights Watch on Monday said that hundreds of gay men have been tortured and killed in Iraq in recent months, by the people sworn to protect them, the nation's security forces.

While the rise in attacks comes amid calls from Iraqi clerics who say that homosexuality must be eradicated, the religious leaders also warn against anti-gay violence.

Interviews with doctors indicate hundreds of men had been killed, but the exact number was unclear because of the stigma associated with homosexuality in Iraq, the New York-based watchdog group said in its report.

"Iraq's leaders are supposed to defend all Iraqis, not abandon them to armed agents of hate. Turning a blind eye to torture and murder threatens the rights and life of every Iraqi," said Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch.

Victims in interviews with CNN said that the attacks have intensified in the past few months.
"In 2004, militias and unknown groups started to go after the gays, but the peak was six months ago. It has become wide scale war against gays in Iraq." said Qaisar, who uses a pseudonym for fear of reprisal.

CNN International on Monday, Aug 17 featured an interview with an Iraqi, whose idenity was concealed for his safety, and who said that among the atrocities, gay men who are arrested on suspicion or for being gay, have a strong epoxy glue inserted in their anuses and between their buttocks. GBMNews.com earlier this year had reported that gay men in Iraq had their anuses and buttocks sealed with a powerful adhesive and then forced to ingest a laxative to induce a bowel movement, and without an ability to excrete, many have died horrible and painful deaths.
Iraqi government officials acknowledged that the nation's culture stigmatizes homosexuality, but said the government does not condone such attacks. Authorities are unable to provide homosexuals with special protection, said government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh.

Human Rights Watch, which is urging a government crackdown, said that attackers target people on the streets or storm homes, where they conduct interrogations and demand names of suspected gay men, many who end up in hospitals and morgues, according to reports from doctors. Men suspected or accused of being homosexual have been threatened with "honor killings" by relatives worried that their "unmanly behavior" will ruin the family's reputation, said Human Rights Watch." Watch Iraqi men discuss attacks

Particularly, the report said, in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, killings, kidnappings and torture of those suspected of homosexual conduct have intensified.

"The Shiite people started this war and especially what happened in Sadr City," Qaisar said, whose sister-in-law had warned him against going to the area.

Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, which is active in Sadr City, has joined in the attacks and defends its actions as a way to stop the "feminization" of Iraqi men, the report said. "We have testimony that indicates that the nation's security forces are taking part in the attacks," said Long.

The group interviewed more than 50 people who gave accounts of abuses, beatings after being stopped at security checkpoints, he said.

"When the gay killings started and when they started go(ing) after them at checkpoints ... we started to change our look," said Basim, who also used a pseudonym.

"These killings point to the continuing and lethal failure of Iraq's post-occupation authorities to establish the rule of law and protect their citizens," said Rasha Moumneh, Middle East researcher for Human Rights Watch.

A provision from the Saddam Hussein era endorses crimes committed "with honorable motives," according to the organization.

The government spokesman said the provision was popular during the Saddam era, but is not used today. He added that there is a push to educate police about human rights. Attacks against civilians, including homosexuals, are not allowed, al-Dabbagh said.