Religious militias in Iraq have singled out a new target, killing scores of young men dressed in "emo" fashions, according to human rights groups. The groups say militant Shia have been encouraged in the wave of attacks by the interior ministry, following a long-standing campaign of gay-bashing. A statement on its website claimed emos were "devil-worshippers".
Gangs of youths have devised a particularly brutal method of killing those they regard as "emos", in the West a term for youths who wear black and adopt a moody appearance but used in Iraq to describe anyone with "floppy hair" and dressed fashionably.
The method, known popularly as the "double block", involves abducting the youths and smashing their heads between two lumps of concrete. Activists say up to 90 people, all but two of them men, have been killed in this method or by shooting or beating this year accused of being either homosexual or "emo". Read More
