Iraqi parliament proposes amendments for anti-prostitution law to criminalise homosexuality

The Iraqi parliament recently announced it conducted the first reading of a bill presented by the assembly's legal committee to amend Iraq's penal code 8 of 1988, which bans prostitution, to criminalise homosexual relations in the country. 

Iraq's penal code lacks specific laws on homosexuality, whether to either punish or give clear rights, and often the LGBT+ community in Iraq is tried under the anti-prostitution law and article 393 of the Iraqi penal code of 1969, which strictly outlaws rape or sodomy.

"Amending the law is parallel with the innate human nature that God has created human beings from males and females, as well as for preserving the entity of the Iraqi society from deviation and calls for paraphilia that invaded the world," reads the parliament's statement. 

Muhsin al-Mandalawi, the deputy speaker of the Iraqi parliament, in another statement issued by the parliament's press office, said, "The law [code number 8] should be amended, and the legal vacuum on criminalising 'paraphilia' and those who promote it should be addressed in a way that severe punishments to be imposed on those who perform it."

Dara Sekaniani, a lawmaker from the Kurdistan Islamic Union's bloc and member of the parliament's legal committee, in a phone interview with The New Arab, confirmed that as per the proposals submitted for amending the law, homosexual individuals could be punished with the death penalty, a life sentence, a significant fine or imprisonment for up to five years. 

He stressed that the parliament will conduct detailed discussions on the bill in the second and third readings and seek advice from specialised individuals before passing it.

He also noted that, per the proposed amendments, gender changes based "on personal wishes" and not medical needs would also be banned.

In terms of whether media coverage of homosexuality or the queer community could be in itself be interpreted as "promoting paraphilia", the Iraqi lawmaker said that the parliament should clarify this during the discussions on the bill.    

Iraqi activists from the LGBT community previously warned that passing such a law would put the lives of community members in severe danger amid increasing efforts by several Iraqi politicians urging violence against them.  

"We try to avoid giving numbers of LGBT+ people in Iraq because there is no data like that and because we believe sexual orientation is a spectrum!" Amir Ashour, head of the IraQueer, told TNA via Twitter.

"LGBT+ people are intimidated through verbal and physical violence. They range from attacks on social media to torture, sexual assault, and even killings," he wrote. 

"The law will allow the Iraqi government, armed groups, and others who attack LGBT+ citizens to get away with their crimes legally. This law would be against Iraqi and international laws, which guarantee equal protection for all citizens regardless of sexual orientation. Iraq recognised this in 2020 in their submission to the UN!" he added. 

Earlier this month, Iraq's official media regulator ordered all media and social media companies operating in the Arab state not to use the term "homosexuality" and instead to replace it with "sexual deviance", a government spokesperson said, and a document from the regulator shows.

The Iraqi Communications and Media Commission (CMC) document noted that the term "gender" was also banned.
It prohibited all phone and internet companies licensed by it from using the terms in any of their mobile applications.