The amendments to a 1988 anti-prostitution law in this country will now result in transgender individuals facing three years’ imprisonment.
Originally, a draft proposed capital punishment for same-s*x relations, prompting concerns from campaigners over the severity of the penalties.
Under the new amendments, individuals engaging in same-s*x relations can be sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison.
Additionally, those found “promoting” same-s*x relations face a minimum of seven years behind bars, while men who intentionally act like women could be sentenced to one to three years in prison.
These amendments further exacerbate the challenges faced by “gay” and “transgender” individuals in a country where they already encounter frequent attacks and discrimination.
The amended law criminalizes “biological s*x change based on personal desire and inclination,” imposing a punishment of up to three years in prison for transgender individuals and doctors performing gender-affirming surgery.
In Iraq’s conservative society, homos*xuality remains a taboo subject, but there had previously been no explicit law targeting same-s*x relations.
Iraq’s LGBTQ community members have faced prosecution under vague morality and anti-prostitution clauses in the penal code, often for sodomy.
“Iraq has effectively codified in law the discrimination and violence members of the LGBTI community have been subjected to with absolute impunity for years,” said Razaw Salihy, Amnesty International’s Iraq researcher.
“The amendments concerning LGBTI rights are a violation of fundamental human rights and put at risk Iraqis whose lives are already hounded daily,” Salihy emphasized.
The amendments additionally prohibit organizations that “promote” homosexuality and impose a prison sentence of 10 to 15 years for “wife swapping”.
Lawmaker Raed al-Maliki, who spearheaded the amendments, told AFP that the law serves as a preventive measure to protect society from such acts.
He explained that the passage of the new amendment was delayed until after Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani’s visit to the United States earlier this month.
“We didn’t want to impact the visit,” he said, noting opposition to the law from the United States and the European Union.
“It is an internal matter and we do not accept any interference in Iraqi affairs.”
The US State Department expressed “deep concern” about the legislation, with spokesman Matt Miller stating on Saturday that the law poses a threat to those most vulnerable in Iraqi society and “undermines the government’s political and economic reform efforts.”
According to a 2022 report by Human Rights Watch and the IraQueer non-governmental organization, LGBTQ Iraqis have been pushed into the shadows, frequently facing “kidnappings, rapes, torture, and murders” that often go unpunished.
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