In February, Iraq's Interior Ministry denounced the music and fashions known collectively as "emo" as Satanic. Shortly thereafter, leaflets began appearing in Shi'ite neighborhoods around Baghdad — Sadr City, Baya — bearing the names of local "emo" kids, urging them to give up their depravity and get right with God. A sample text:
We strongly warn you, to all the obscene males and females, if you will not leave this filthy work within four days the punishment of God will descend upon you at the hand of the Mujahideen.
The Mujahideen weren't joking. Those four allotted days expired at the end of the month. Since then, according to the AP:
At least 14 bodies of youths have been brought to three hospitals in eastern Baghdad bearing signs of having been beaten to death with rocks or bricks, security and hospital sources told Reuters under condition they not be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Nine bodies were brought to hospitals in Sadr City, a vast, poor Shi'ite neighborhood, three were brought to East Baghdad's main al-Kindi hospital and two were brought to the central morgue, medical sources said.
Six other young people, including two girls, were wounded in beatings intended as warnings, the security sources said.
Leading Shi'ia clerics, even very crazy ones, have spoken out against the stonings, as has the Interior Ministry. From the AP:
… on his website on Saturday, Moqtada al-Sadr, a Shi'ite cleric whose followers dominate Sadr City, described "emo" youths as "crazy and fools", but said they should be dealt with only through the law.
"They are a plague on Muslim society, and those responsible should eliminate them through legal means," he said.
