The Iraqi's Stories: Sunnis learn Shia customs to bluff Baghdad death squads

Sunnis in Iraq are studying Shia religious history and customs to enable them to bluff their way through illegal checkpoints set up by Shia death squads.

Relatives and neighbours meet to share knowledge on the 12 imams revered by Shias Muslims, test each other on the dates of Shia festivals or advise on where best to buy fake IDs with Shia names, in case they are challenged at gunpoint. Websites have also been established to help Sunnis learn how to pass themselves off as Shia.

Such knowledge can be a matter of life and death as Shia militias stop cars in the capital and demand to know if the driver is Sunni or Shia.

The sectarian violence that followed the destruction in February of the Golden Mosque at Samarra, a revered Shia shrine, shows no sign of abating.

Any driver identified as Sunni risks being kidnapped and tortured.

Their bodies usually found dumped in the River Tigris or on a rubbish tip. Since Saturday at least 74 bodies have been found around the capital — often, Sunnis claim, killed with the complicity of the predominantly Shia police force in the city.

Read the rest at the Telegraph