Mekelle: 29 April 2024 (Tigray Herald)
Iraq’s parliament passed a bill Saturday criminalizing same-sex relations. making them punishable by up to 15 years in prison, a move rights groups condemned as an “attack on human rights.”
Transgender people would be sentenced to three years in jail under the amendments to a 1988 anti-prostitution law, which were adopted during a session attended by 170 out of 329 lawmakers.
A previous draft had proposed capital punishment for same-sex relations, which campaigners had called a dangerous escalation.
government’s political and economic reform efforts.”
LGBTQ Iraqis have been forced into the shadows, often targeted with “kidnappings, rapes, torture and murders” that go unpunished, according to a 2022 report by Human Rights Watch and the IraQueer non-governmental organization.
Human Rights Watch’s Iraq researcher Sarah Sanbar said the new law “is a horrific development and an attack on human rights.”
“Rather than focusing on enacting laws that would benefit Iraqis — like passing the draft domestic violence law or draft child protection law — Iraq is choosing to codify discrimination against LGBT people,” she said.
Source፡VOA