Conversation with the Co-Founder of the Upcoming United Atheists of Europe
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Humanist Voices)
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2018/06/01
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: How are sexual and gender identity minorities treated in the Muslim majority world?
Karrar Al Asfoor: They are treated in a very bad way. Their life is really miserable. They are considered evil individuals and less humans.
Jacobsen: How is this reflected in cultural representation and the social treatment?
Asfoor: They could be insulted, beaten or even assassinated. They suffered many large assassination campaigns by the religious militias in Iraq during the past years.
Jacobsen: What are some reflections of this in law in places like Iraq?
Asfoor: If someone is caught having sex with a same gender mate, they could be sentenced for five years of imprisonment and usually the judge sentences them five years and one day so that the 3 months’ reduction from every year would be useless for them.
Jacobsen: Do these laws violate the UN Charter and rights of said sexual and gender identity minorities?
Asfoor: I would start with article one of the universal declaration of human rights, which states that all human beings are equal to each other. That’s enough to have the same rights of other people, but these laws clearly violate the declaration. There should be more effective actions taken by the international community to protect those people, like sanctions for example.
Jacobsen: Who are some Iraq vanguards and spokespersons for the rights of the sexual and gender identity minorities?
Asfoor: Given that the Iraqi society is very strict, not only because of religion but also because it is a tribal society that consider “not being man” as a shame, many people avoid to talk even about the subject of the rights of the sexual and gender identity minorities.
Therefore, we are left with no one to speak for them, except very few not so famous social media activists .I am one of them. It isa really tough task because there is no tolerance for these minorities even among the Iraqi atheist community.
I would also mention Jaafar Al Qaraghuli who is an Iraqi poet and rights activist. He wrote several poetries defending their rights.
Jacobsen: What are some books by Iraqi authors that speak about these issues in depth?
Asfoor: To my knowledge, unfortunately there are none.
Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time, Karrar.
Asfoor: It is such an honor for me to participate in this interview with you, many thanks, Scott.
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