Cleric: No violence against LGBTs

Prominent Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has banned his followers from committing violence against LGBT people, The Washington Blade noted.

Members of the Mahdi army—a Shiite militia that al-Sadr heads—have been accused of kidnapping, torturing and executing LGBT Iraqis for the past several years.

Some consider al-Sadr, 43, to be one of the most influential religious and popular figures in Iraq, although he does not hold any official title in the Iraqi government.

While pointing out that al-Sadr remains intolerant of LGBT people, Human Rights Watch called the statement “an important step.”