by Mike Andrew - SGN Staff Writer

The London-based Iraqi exile group Iraqi LGBT charged on June 22 that Iraqi police raided a safe house in Karbala, blindfolded and beat six of the residents, and took them away in vans.

The raid took place June 15.

According to a witness quoted by Iraqi LGBT, the police also confiscated computer equipment and then burned down the house.

One of the arrested people has turned up in hospital with his throat slashed, according to reports received by the group.

Nothing is known about the whereabouts of the other five individuals, who include two Gay men, one Lesbian, and two Transgender people.

Iraqi LGBT expressed fears for their safety.

"Since the fall of Saddam, militias loyal to Shi'a clerics Grand Ayatollah al Sistani and Muqtada al Sadr, both of whom have called for homosexuals to be put to death, have been only too keen to carry out their leaders' wishes," the group says.

"Over 720 LGBT people have disappeared or been murdered, many of whom have been tortured to death.

"There is strong evidence that the government is colluding with these militia groups, by rounding up known homosexual and Transgender people."

Killings of LGBT Iraqis spiked in early 2009. Many of the victims were subjected to grisly torture, often being castrated or having their anuses glued shut.

Many bodies were discovered with notes pinned to them saying "puppy" (the Iraqi equivalent of "fag"), or "Pervert, we will punish you," indicting the victim was deliberately killed because of perceived sexual orientation.

Muqtada al Sadr's Mahdi Army militia and the Badr Brigades, allied with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki, have been accused of the murders.

The Iraqi Interior Ministry, reportedly heavily infiltrated by militias, has also been implicated.

The Karbala house is one of a small number of safe houses set up for LGBT people to live in relative safety. They are funded by Iraqi LGBT.

The Karbala house had been established in January this year.

The raid provoked fears that the government will step up efforts to round up more of the country's LGBT population.

"The UK media and politicians have been too quiet for too long about the violence LGBT people in Iraq," said Ali Hili, leader of Iraqi LGBT in London.

"The militia and the powers that be know they can get away with it while that silence continues.

"It really is time for the Iraqi government to act on this and stop playing the role of guilty bystanders, while our brothers and sisters are murdered in silence."

The UK Border Agency has been deporting Iraqis who have fled to Britain to escape violence in their homeland.

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) called for a US government investigation of the killings last April.

The U.S. State Department has condemned the killings and has brought its concern to the attention of the Iraqi government, according to State Department spokespersons. They declined to say whether their condemnation made any impression on the Iraqi side, however.

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