LGBTI+ Iraqis fear death penalty proposal

2023-08-22 12:53:31, Kosova & Bota CNA

LGBTI+ Iraqis fear death penalty proposal

Protesters in Baghdad, Iraq, burn an LGBTI+ community flag during a protest against the burning of a Koran in Sweden, July 22, 2023.

The proposal to add an amendment to the law in Iraq that would impose the death penalty for homosexual relations has been called the "most dangerous escalation" by human rights activists.

In Iran, people of the LGBTI (homosexual, bisexual, transgender, intersex) community already face frequent attacks and discrimination.

But according to a document seen by AFP news agency, the amendment to a 1988 anti-prostitution law, which passed a first reading in parliament last week, would allow courts to hand down "death sentences or imprisonment for life" for "homosexual relations".

Homosexuality, like other gender issues, remains taboo in Iraq's conservative society, although no existing laws explicitly punish same-sex relationships.

However, members of the LGBTI+ community have been prosecuted for various moral and prostitution crimes in Iraq's penal code.

Iraqis of the LGBTI+ community have been targeted with “kidnapping, rape, torture and murder” with impunity, according to a 2022 report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and IraQueer.

Rasha Younes, LGBTI+ community rights researcher at HRW, described the proposed legislation as a "dangerous step".

"This means that the lives of Iraqi individuals and the constant fear of attacks and killings with impunity by armed groups will now become the law itself," she said.

The AFP news agency reports that there seems to be support for the amendment of this law in the assembly with an Islamic majority.

Lawmaker Sharif Suleiman of the Kurdistan Democratic Party said the proposed legislation reflects "our moral and human values ??and our struggle against abnormal social phenomena."

"We need preventive laws," he told the government newspaper Al-Sabah.

According to the text seen by the AFP, the amendment would also impose a minimum sentence of seven years for "promoting homosexuality".

Masa të tjera synojnë ta kufizojnë diskutimin publik të çështjeve gjinore. Komisioni kombëtar i mediave dhe komunikimit po shqyrton mundësinë që mediave në Irak t’u ndalohet përdorimi i termit “homoseksualitet”, tha një burim i AFP-së.

Në vend të kësaj, mediat do të këshillohen ta përdorin termin nënçmues “devijim seksual"” sipas burimit, dhe termi “gjini” gjithashtu do të ndalohet nëse masa miratohet./ REL