- By Aashish Vashistha
- Sun, 28 Apr 2024 08:15 AM (IST)
- Source:Reuters
Amid an ongoing global debate on LGBTQ+ rights, Iraq’s Parliament has passed a law criminalising same-sex relationships with a maximum 15-year prison sentence. The law was reportedly passed to uphold religious values but has been swiftly condemned by human rights advocates as yet another attack on the LGBTQ community in Iraq. According to a copy of the law seen by news agency Reuters, the law aims to "protect Iraqi society from moral depravity and the calls for homosexuality that have overtaken the world.”
The law reportedly adopted on Saturday was mainly backed by conservative Shia Muslim parties who mainly form the largest coalition in Muslim-dominated Iraq’s Parliament. The country has also set a minimum of seven years of imprisonment for ‘promoting’ same-sex relations and a sentence ranging from one to three years for men who ‘intentionally’ act like women, as reported by news agency AFP.
The law also makes "biological sex change based on personal desire and inclination" a crime. It will also punish doctors who will perform gender-affirming surgery with up to three years in prison.
Before being implemented into a law, the bill had initially included the death penalty for same-sex acts, however, it was amended following strong opposition from the United States and European nations.
Meanwhile, Rasha Younes, deputy director of the LGBT rights programme at Human Rights Watch, told news agency Reuters that "The Iraqi parliament’s passage of the anti-LGBT law rubber-stamps Iraq's appalling record of rights violations against LGBT people and is a serious blow to fundamental human rights.”
The United States and the European Union also opposed the law. The US State Department is "deeply concerned" about the law, spokesman Matt Miller said on Saturday. He further added that the law threatens those most at risk in Iraqi society and "undermines the government's political and economic reform efforts."
