Sex gay iraq

Iraq criminalises same-sex relationships in new law

Iraq's parliament has passed a bill criminalising same-sex relationships with jail terms of between 10 and 15 years.

Transgender people could also be sent to prison for between one and three years under the new commandment.

Supporters of the changes say they will support to uphold religious ethics in the country.

Rights groups say they are a further black label on Iraq's record of violations against LGBT people.

Those who promote homosexuality or prostitution, doctors who perform gender reassignment surgery, men who "intentionally" do like women and those who engage in "wife swapping" will also encounter prison terms under the new legislation.

A previous draft of the bill - an amendment to an anti-prostitution law that was passed in the late 1980s - had proposed capital punishment for same-sex relationships.

However, this was amended after facing conflict from the US and other Western countries.

MP Amir al-Maamouri told Shafaq News on Saturday that the new law was "a significant step in combating sexual deviancy given the infiltration of unusual cases contradicting Islamic and societal values&

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Last updated: 21 January 2025

Types of criminalisation

Criminalises LGBT people
Criminalises sexual activity between males
Criminalises sexual activity between females

Summary

Same-sex sexual activity is explicitly prohibited in Iraq, since the Iraqi Parliament passed an amendment to a 1988 anti-prostitution law in April 2024. Before this rule was passed, certain offences in the Penal Code 1969, such as those criminalising ‘immodest acts’ and ‘prostitution’, as well as Sharia law, were used to criminalise LGBT people. Both men and women are criminalised under the new law. Transgender people are also explicitly criminalised.

There is some evidence of the Penal Code 1969 being enforced in recent years, with LGBT people being occasionally subject to arrest. During ISIS’ rule of Iraq, there were reports of the death penalty being imposed against LGBT people under a strict interpretation of Sharia law. There have been consistent reports of discrimination and violence being involved against LGBT people in recent years, incl

'Everyone feels unsafe': Iraq's LGBT+ community horrified by law passage

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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Heteronormativity has always been the prevailing status quo in conservative-majority Iraq, but no legislation had explicitly criminalized homosexual conduct until Saturday when the parliament made several amendments to the country's anti-prostitution law, banning any practice of homosexuality and transsexuality with harsh penalties of up to 15 years in prison.

The news has devastated Iraq's already-oppressed LGBTQI+ group, who labeled the developments as the actualization of their worst nightmares, with legal basis having now been established to justify the persecution they will become subjected to.

Life has never been easy for 19-year-old Saleem* who realized he was gay at a very young age and has been facing the intolerance and discrimination that approach with reaching this realization in Iraq ever since. He said that the news has left him in a state of panic, leading to suicidal thoughts and lack of sleep.

"There is no life for people like us i

LGBTQ people in Iraq meet violence by armed groups, police

Baghdad, Iraq – On his first trip here at just 17 years old, Hyder’s excitement to visit the bustling capital to meet friends instantly faded to a traumatising nightmare that would exit him depressed for years to come.

Hyder, who identifies as queer, was stopped at a checkpoint on the way downtown and taken into a closed caravan where the security officers proceeded to stroke his genitalia backed by a chorus of laughter.

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They taunted Hyder, whose call has been changed to protect his identity, saying if he went to jail he would never leave and would be sold to prisoners.

“It was one of the most horrible events that ever happened to me … It has killed something inside me,” Hyder, now 19, told Al Jazeera.

The experience Hyder described to Al Jazeera is but one example of why the LGBTQ community in Iraq lives in continual fear, as a