Supporters of the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr sign a pledge to stand against homosexuality or LGBTQ, outside a mosque in Kufa, Iraq, Friday, Dec. 2, 2022. Human rights groups and diplomats criticized a law that was quietly passed by the Iraqi parliament over the weekend that would impose heavy prison sentences on gay and transgender people. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil, File)
BY ABDULRAHMAN ZEYAD AND QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
April 28, 2024
BAGHDAD (AP) — Human rights groups and diplomats criticized a law that was quietly passed by the Iraqi parliament over the weekend that would impose heavy prison sentences on gay and transgender people.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement that the law passed Saturday “threatens those most at risk in Iraqi society” and “can be used to hamper free-speech and expression.” He warned that the legislation could drive away foreign investment.
“International business coalitions have already indicated that such discrimination in Iraq will harm business and economic growth in the country,” the statement said.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron called the law “dangerous and worrying.”
Although homosexuality is taboo in the largely conservative Iraqi society, and political leaders have periodically launched anti-LGBTQ+ campaigns, Iraq did not previously have a law that explicitly criminalized it.
The law passed Saturday with little notice as an amendment to the country’s existing anti-prostitution law. It imposes a sentence of 10 to 15 years for same-sex relations and a prison term of one to three years for people who undergo or perform gender-transition surgeries and for “intentional practice of effeminacy.”
It also bans any organization that promotes “sexual deviancy,” imposing a sentence of at least seven years and a fine of no less than 10 million dinars (about $7,600).
A previous draft version of the anti-prostitution law, which was ultimately not passed, would have allowed the death sentence to be imposed for same-sex relations.
Iraqi officials have defended the law as upholding societal values and portrayed criticisms of it as Western interference.
The acting Iraqi parliamentary speaker, Mohsen Al-Mandalawi, said in a statement that the vote was “a necessary step to protect the value structure of society” and to “protect our children from calls for moral depravity and homosexuality.”
Rasha Younes, a senior researcher with the LGBT Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, said the law’s passage “rubber-stamps Iraq’s appalling record of rights violations against LGBT people and is a serious blow to fundamental human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and association, privacy, equality, and nondiscrimination.”
A report released by the organization in 2022 accused armed groups in Iraq of abducting, raping, torturing, and killing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people with impunity and the Iraqi government of failing to hold perpetrators accountable.
US Criticizes Iraq’s New Anti Homosexuality Law
The US State Department slammed a law passed by Iraq’s parliament on Saturday criminalizing same-sex relationships as a threat to human rights and freedoms.
The statement also warned that the law would weaken Iraq’s ability to diversify its economy and attract foreign investment.
"This amendment threatens those most at risk in Iraqi society. It can be used to hamper free-speech and expression and inhibit the operations of NGOs across Iraq," a State Department statement said.
Iraq's parliament passed a law on Saturday criminalizing same-sex relationships with a maximum 15-year prison sentence, saying the move aimed to uphold religious values. Rights advocates condemned the law as the latest attack on the LGBT community in Iraq.
Iran and other Islamic countries have also anti-homosexuality laws of various severity.
Same-sex activity between male adults is a crime in the Islamic Republic and is punishable by death if it occurs between consenting adults according to the country’s Sharia-based criminal code.
The sentence for female homosexuality between consenting adult women, however, is 100 lashes in the first three instances and a death sentence will be carried out if the offense is repeated for a fourth time.
Proof of homosexuality requires a confession by the offenders or the testimony of four “righteous men”.
Death sentence for homosexuality was rarely carried out, but four men were hanged in Maragheh in northwestern Iran in two separate cases in July and January 2022.
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