BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s parliament handed a regulation criminalising same-sex relationships with a most 15-year jail sentence on Saturday, in a transfer it stated aimed to uphold non secular values however was condemned by rights advocates as the most recent assault on the LGBT group in Iraq.
The regulation goals to “shield Iraqi society from ethical depravity and the requires homosexuality which have overtaken the world,” in accordance with a replica of the regulation seen by Reuters.
It was backed primarily by conservative Shi’ite Muslim events who type the most important coalition in primarily Muslim Iraq’s parliament.
The Regulation on Combating Prostitution and Homosexuality bans same-sex relations with at the very least 10 years and a most of 15 years in jail, and mandates at the very least seven years in jail for anyone who promotes homosexuality or prostitution.
It additionally imposes between one and three years in jail for anybody who modifications their “organic gender” or wilfully attire in an effeminate method.
The invoice had initially included the dying penalty for same-sex acts however was amended earlier than being handed after sturdy opposition from america and European nations.
Till Saturday, Iraq did not explicitly criminalise homosexual intercourse, although loosely outlined morality clauses in its penal code had been used to focus on LGBT folks, and members of the group have additionally been killed by armed teams and people.
“The Iraqi parliament’s passage of the anti-LGBT regulation rubber-stamps Iraq’s appalling file of rights violations in opposition to LGBT folks and is a severe blow to basic human rights,” Rasha Younes, deputy director of the LGBT rights programme at Human Rights Watch, informed Reuters.
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Iraqi officers who oversee human rights couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.
Main Iraqi events have prior to now yr stepped up criticism of LGBT rights, with rainbow flags regularly being burned in protests by each ruling and opposition conservative Shi’ite Muslim factions final yr.
Greater than 60 international locations criminalise homosexual intercourse, whereas same-sex sexual acts are authorized in additional than 130 international locations, in accordance with Our World in Information.
