Muslim cleric backs gay burnings

-- Homosexuals should be thrown off buildings or burnt to death, a Muslim cleric has proclaimed.

Yusuf Qaradawi described gay people as "perverts" who should be "punished," in an interview with Al Jazeera last week.

He said homosexuals should be treated the same as any other "sexual pervert."

"The schools of thought disagree about the punishment. Some say they should be punished like fornicators. Some say we should throw them from a high place, like God did with the people of Sodom. Some say we should burn them, and so on. There is disagreement," he said.

He called the debate over gay rights in the Arab world a "calamity."

London Mayor Ken Livingstone was criticised by gay groups in 2004 after inviting Mr Qaradawi, a vocal supporter of suicide bombers, to the city. --