The Iraqi Parliament has approved a law that punishes homosexual relations with sentences of up to 15 years in prison. Transgender people can be detained for between one and three years. An earlier draft had proposed capital punishment for same-sex relationships, in what activists called a “dangerous” escalation against human rights. A tightening of measures that goes against the protection of human rights and which has been justified to “preserve the religious values of the country”. The new legislation also provides for prison sentences for those who promote homosexuality or prostitution, for doctors who perform gender reassignment surgery, for men who “intentionally” behave like women and for those who practice “sex trading”. wife”.
The sentences
The new amendments allow courts to sentence people in same-sex relationships to terms of between 10 and 15 years in prison, in a country where gay and transgender people already face frequent attacks and discrimination. The law also provides a minimum sentence of seven years in prison for “promoting” same-sex relationships and a sentence of one to three years for men who “intentionally” behave like women. The amended law makes “biological sex change based on personal desire and inclination” a crime and punishes transgender people and doctors who perform surgery with a sentence of up to three years in prison.
