ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A member of the Kurdistan Region parliament’s human rights committee on Sunday said arresting members of the “rainbow community” is a crime, days after Sulaimani security forces announced an operation targeting LGBT+ individuals.
Parliament’s Social Affairs and Protection of Human Rights Committee “hasn’t decided to work” on the arrests of members of the LGBT+ community in Sulaimani yet, as Asayish have given contradictory comments over the arrests, Shadi Nawzad, a member of the committee told Rudaw’s Shahyan Tahseen on Sunday.
“We need to know those arrested were arrested on what basis,” said the MP in response to some security officials saying the arrests were targeting people for their sexual orientation, and others saying “prostitution” was the sole focus of the operation. “The arrest of people on charges that they are from the rainbow community is in itself a violation of human rights.”
Sleman Mohsin, head of communications at the Independent Human Rights Commission in Kurdistan, told Tahseen the arrests were made “on charges of homosexuality,” but described them as procedurally sufficient given that he believes security forces had a court order. He says he has not seen the order himself.
The commission’s media head conceded that “the way” the individuals were arrested was “disrespectful” and “not civil.”
Mohsin added that the detainees were released, but LGBT+ activist Zhiar Ali refuted those claims in a tweet following the interview, saying “we have a lawyer investigating their cases and we are sure that they are still detained.”
Arrests were made in the city of Sulaimani on Thursday night, which Operation supervisor Pshtiwan Bahadin told local media targeted those they suspect to be LGBT+ for immorality, days after a US human rights report highlighted the dangers the persecuted community face in the Region.
Members of the sexual minority community have told Rudaw they are scared to leave their homes after the arrests.
Following backlash at the news of the arrests, Sulaimani Asayish issued a statement on Friday afternoon claiming the arrests were part of a crackdown on prostitution in the city and not directed against any group of people.
“We see a problem with this operation, because they haven’t decided what they want to do. Either they gave a false statement in the beginning that they only target those who are prostitutes, or they have changed the aim of the operation after they saw there was a lot of pressure on them,” Ali said during the Rudaw interview. “A large number of civil activists and organizations didn’t stay silent.”
Youth and rights organizations in Sulaimani and across the wider Kurdistan Region took to social media to express their outrage and concern at the targeting of a community already incredibly vulnerable in the Region, and Iraq as a whole.
The United States consulate in Erbil also expressed concern on Saturday over the arrests.
Human Rights Watch told Rudaw English on Friday that they are “deeply disturbed” by the arrests. “Unfortunately though, this does not come as a surprise- for years armed forces across Iraq have targeted, harassed, tortured and killed people perceived to be part of the LGBT community with total impunity.”
Seventeen members of Sulaimani’s provincial council signed a petition supporting the arrests.
“Homosexuality is abnormal and unfavoured in the Kurdish society. It doesn’t go with laws and the religion of the majority of Kurdistan’s people. It’s against society,” Khadija Abduljabbar, member of Sulaimani’s provincial council, who signed the petition, told Tahseen during the interview.
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