“This is an internal matter and we do not agree to any interference in Iraqi affairs.”
Iraq:
Iraq’s parliament on Saturday passed a law criminalizing same-sex relations, punishable by up to 15 years in prison, in a move by rights groups condemned as an “attack on human rights.”
Transgender people will be sentenced to three years in prison under an amendment to the 1988 anti-prostitution law that was passed in a session attended by 170 of 329 lawmakers.
The previous bill proposed the death penalty for same-sex relations, which activists called a “hazardous” escalation.
According to a document accessed by AFP, the fresh changes allow courts to sentence people having homosexual relations to 10 to 15 years in prison in a country where homosexual and transgender people already face recurrent attacks and discrimination.
They also set a minimum sentence of seven years in prison for “promoting” same-sex relationships and a sentence of one to three years for men who “deliberately” behave like women.
The amended law criminalizes “biological sex change based on personal desires and inclinations” and punishes transgender people and doctors performing gender-affirming surgeries with up to three years in prison.
Homosexuality is taboo in Iraq’s conservative society, but previously there was no law that explicitly punished same-sex relations.
Members of Iraq’s LGBTQ+ community have been prosecuted for sodomy or under vague morals and prostitution prohibitions clauses in the Iraqi penal code.
“Iraq has effectively codified the law on the discrimination and violence that members of the LGBTI community have experienced for years with complete impunity,” said Razaw Salihy, Amnesty International’s Iraq researcher.
“The LGBTI rights amendments violate basic human rights and endanger Iraqis whose lives are already subject to daily persecution,” Salihy added.
The amendment also prohibits organizations “promoting” homosexuality and punishes “wife swapping” with 10 to 15 years in prison.
“The law serves as a preventive measure to protect society from such acts,” lawmaker Raed al-Maliki, who introduced the amendments, told AFP.
He said adoption of the fresh amendment had been postponed until Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani visited the United States earlier this month.
The United States and the European Union oppose the law and “we didn’t want to influence the visit,” he said.
“This is an internal matter and we do not agree to any interference in Iraqi affairs.”
According to a 2022 report by Human Rights Watch and the NGO IraQueer, LGBTQ+ Iraqis have been pushed into the shadows, often targeted for “kidnapping, rape, torture, and murder” that go unpunished.
Iraqi politicians and social media users are increasingly resorting to anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, further increasing fear among members of the community.
Sarah Sanbar, an Iraq researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the fresh law change “is a horrific event and an attack on human rights.”
“Instead of focusing on passing legislation that would benefit Iraqis – such as passing the domestic violence bill or the child protection bill – Iraq is choosing to codify discrimination against LGBT people,” she said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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