The Iraqi parliament on Saturday approved a law criminalizing homosexuality. Same-sex relationships can now result in a prison sentence of up to fifteen years.
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs is ‘seriously concerned’ about the law. “Criminalizing homosexuality goes directly against international agreements to which Iraq has agreed,” the ministry responded in an English-language tweet. Moreover, protecting the rights of minorities is “essential for the stability” of the country, the department added.
The new law poses a threat to human rights in Iraq, the US State Department said in a statement. “This amendment poses a threat to the most vulnerable groups in Iraqi society. It can be used to hinder freedom of expression and hinder the activities of NGOs throughout Iraq.” According to the US, it may also have economic consequences, because foreign investors will be less willing to invest money in the country.
‘Moral depravity’
According to politicians from mainly conservative Shia parties, the measure was taken to uphold religious values in the country and to ‘protect the population against moral depravity’. Human rights lawyers immediately condemned the new legislation as yet another attack on Iraq’s LGBTI community.
Convicts who violate the ‘Act on Combating Prostitution and Homosexuality’ will be sentenced to at least ten years behind bars. The maximum is set at fifteen years. Someone who encourages prostitution or homosexuality can get seven years in prison. Initially, there was talk of the death penalty for the most serious offense, as in neighboring Iran, but that proposal failed after heavy pressure from the United States and European countries.
Until Saturday, sex between people of the same sex was not officially banned in Iraq, but the media, among other things, had not been allowed to use the word homosexuality for some time and had to speak or write of a ‘sexual deviation’. The term transgender was also out of the question.
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