Gscene News Archive

Gay Life After Saddam, to be broadcast this Sunday (July 5) on BBC Radio 5Live at 7pm, examines the persecution of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community in Iraq.

The harrowing documentary was made with the assistance and co-operation of the underground gay rights movement, Iraqi LGBT. It includes interviews with the Iraqi Prime Minister, religious leaders and ordinary people on the streets of Baghdad, where homosexuality is still viewed by many as an illness or deserving of death - as well as LGBT victims of arrest, jailing, torture and rape, and brave gay Iraqis who run a 'safe house' in Baghdad.

Human rights campaigners claim hundreds of LGBT people have been killed or tortured while others have fled the country fearing for their safety since Saddam was toppled from power six years ago. Meanwhile, in the UK, gay Iraqis seeking asylum are struggling to persuade the Labour government to let them stay. A few have been granted refugee status. Others have been refused.

Producer Ashley Byrne, Creative Director of the programme production company, Made in Manchester, said:
"We're proud to be making our 5Live debut with such an important documentary which tackles a subject that doesn't usually feature as part of the usual narrative from Iraq.

"The programme includes an interview with a gay Iraqi who was kidnapped and raped before fleeing the country, we hear from a young man who fled to Paris after being tortured and we get exclusive access to a so-called 'safe house' harbouring vulnerable LGBT Iraqis on the outskirts of Baghdad".

He adds: "Some of the evidence is very difficult to comprehend, especially a form of torture involving glue and diarrhoea-inducing drugs."

Programme presenter Aasmah Mir also meets a now London-based gay Iraqi whose life is under threat for the work he's doing to help LGBT people in his homeland. Ali Hili (a pseudonym), who founded Iraqi LGBT, claims he has had two fatwas issued against him from extremists in the Middle East. As well as securing asylum himself, Mr Hili has assisted fellow Iraqi gay refugees to win asylum in the UK.

Co-producer Gail Champion says:
"What becomes clear throughout this programme is that not one person, one group or another, is responsible for this persecution. It seems like it's chaos in Iraq with the authorities struggling to keep control. What surprised me more than anything was how much life was easier for LGBT people under Saddam Hussein."

As part of the programme, the US Government is put on the spot over the issue. Ashley Byrne says:
"It was our reporter who managed to elicit a response from the US Government during a State Department Briefing in Washington earlier this month. The Obama administration's reaction to the recent killings and violence can be heard during this programme."

Note: If the Wimbledon men's tennis final on Sunday overruns, this programme might start later than 7pm London time, or be postponed until another date.

You can listen live online from anywhere in the world:
www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/
Or listen for 7 days after the programme has aired on the BBC iplayer:
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/bbc_radio_five_live