From the Daily Beast, with information from a report by Human Rights Watch, a tragic story about the rising tide of violence against gay men throughout Iraq. It’s enough to make your stomach turn.

Bodies have appeared by the dozens in hospitals and morgues. How many have been killed will likely never be known; the failure of authorities to investigate compounds the fear and shame of families to ensure that reliable figures are unattainable.

Many Iraqi men targeted in the killing campaign are being forced to flee the country and end up in surrounding countries where homosexuality is also criminalized. The report recommends that urgent action be taken to aid the safe resettlement in third countries of men who have managed to escape. For those who remain, fear and loathing seem to be a continuing fact of life.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Kingof theHill.