Gay Iraqi Teen Killed by Police

BAGDHAD, IRAQ -- Human rights groups have condemned the barbaric murder of a 14-year-old boy who was shot and killed in front of his home by police for what they're saying was the crime of 'being gay'.

Ahmed Khalil was beaten by several men wearing Iraqi police uniforms and then shot at point-blank range in Bagdhad last week, according to his neighbors in the al-Dura area of Baghdad.

Campaign groups have warned of a surge in homophobic killings by state security services and religious militias following an anti-gay and anti-lesbian fatwa issued by Iraq's most prominent Shia leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The fatwa calls for the execution of gays in the "worst, most severe way".

According to Ali Hili, the head of an organization of exiled Iraqi gay men who monitor allegations of attacks against gays and lesbians in Iraq, the fatwa has created a climate of violence against lesbian and gay Iraqis. They say the violence includes beatings, kidnappings and killings.

"Young Ahmed was a victim of poverty," he said. "He was summarily executed, apparently by fundamentalist elements in the Iraqi police."