Iraq:
Iraq's parliament on Saturday passed a bill that would criminalize same-sex relations with a prison sentence of up to 15 years. This is an action that rights groups are condemning as an “attack on human rights.”
Transgender people will be sentenced to three years in prison under changes to a 1988 anti-prostitution law, which were passed at a session attended by 170 of 329 lawmakers.
An earlier draft proposed the death penalty for same-sex relationships, in what campaigners had called a “dangerous” escalation.
The new changes will allow courts to sentence people in same-sex relationships to 10 to 15 years in prison, according to the document seen by AFP, in the country where gay and transgender people already face regular attacks and discrimination.
They also set a minimum seven-year prison sentence for “promoting” same-sex relationships, and a prison sentence ranging from one to three years for men who “intentionally” behave like women.
The amended law makes “biological gender reassignment based on personal desires and inclinations” a crime and punishes transgender people and doctors who perform gender confirmation surgeries with up to three years in prison.
Homosexuality is taboo in conservative Iraqi society, but there has never been a law that explicitly punishes same-sex relationships.
Members of Iraq's LGBTQ+ community have been prosecuted for sodomy or under vague morality and anti-prostitution clauses in Iraq's criminal code.
“Iraq has effectively codified into law with impunity the discrimination and violence that members of the LGBTI community have been subjected to for years,” said Razaw Salihy, an Iraq researcher at Amnesty International.
“The amendments regarding LGBTI rights violate fundamental human rights and endanger Iraqis whose lives are already being hunted on a daily basis,” Salihy added.
The amendments also ban organizations that “promote” homosexuality and punish “wife swapping” with a prison sentence of 10 to 15 years.
“The law serves as a preventive measure to protect society from such acts,” parliamentarian Raed al-Maliki, who put forward the amendments, told AFP.
He said the adoption of the new amendment was postponed until after Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani's visit to the United States earlier this month.
The U.S. and European Union oppose the law and “we did not want to influence the visit,” he said.
“It is an internal matter and we do not accept any interference in Iraqi affairs.”
According to a 2022 report by Human Rights Watch and the non-governmental organization IraQueer, LGBTQ+ Iraqis have been forced into the shadows, often targeted for “kidnappings, rapes, torture and murders” that go unpunished.
Iraqi politicians and social media users have increasingly resorted to anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, further fueling fear among community members.
Human Rights Watch Iraq researcher Sarah Sanbar said the new law change is “a horrific development and an attack on human rights.”
“Rather than focusing on passing laws that would benefit Iraqis – such as passing a domestic violence law or a child protection law – Iraq is choosing to codify discrimination against LGBT people,” she said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Our staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)