Once again, the Iraqi Council of Representatives passes a law that causes controversy and international objections, with its vote on Saturday on the law against prostitution and homosexuality, and while the law contained a “lack of definitions” and “flabbiness in terminology,” according to jurists and activists, some of them did not rule out that there are political motives behind voting on the law lies in the ongoing political conflict between the coordinating framework and the Sadrist movement.
Legal expert Adnan Al-Sharifi said, during an interview with Al Aalem Al Jadeed, that “the previous anti-prostitution law covered a large part of these crimes, but what was new in this law were some issues, including the process of homosexuality or homosexuality, wife swapping, and transvestism.”
Al-Sharifi agrees that “there is a need to pass such a law because society is in dire need of it and there is a major collapse in the moral system, after social media sites have turned into shovels for destroying families.”
However, the legal expert notes two observations on the law, with regard to “sex change, as the House of Representatives was not successful in this vision, especially since the jurists, Sunnis and Shiites, permitted this process and the Constitution believes that any law that violates the principles of Islam violates the Constitution and this paragraph violates,” according to what he sees.
The law, in its second/third article, prohibits changing a person’s biological sex based on personal desires and inclinations, with the exception of cases of surgical intervention to treat congenital deformities.
Secondly, Al-Sharifi refers to the term effeminacy, the perpetrator of which the law punishes, and points out that “there is a flaw in the definition regarding effeminacy, as the definition contains a broad meaning that can be attached to any person who wears something different and has a certain appearance,” pointing out that “the law exposes For a male who imitates a female, and is not exposed to a woman if she practices masculinity, even though the law claims to preserve the constants in society’s values.”
The law punishes anyone who commits an act of effeminacy, which the law defines as “every intentional practice of imitating women.”
Al-Sharifi explains the occurrence of these loopholes in the laws by saying that “legislators, when preparing the laws, do not consult the relevant segments of expertise, so it was assumed that psychiatrists and clerics would be sought assistance on the issue of sex change because the law in this way contradicts scientific opinion and Sharia opinion.”
Last Saturday, the House of Representatives passed an amendment to the anti-prostitution law, to include “homosexuality.” In its current version, it included prison sentences for various periods for violators instead of death and life imprisonment in a previous version, which sparked widespread controversy within local and international circles. Parliament sought to amend Law No. 8 of 1988, with the aim of adding some practices that were not clearly defined and not widespread at the time the law was passed, including wife swapping and homosexuality.
In recent months, there has been a major movement in the country to stand up against homosexuality, and Iraq does not have clear and explicit legislation regarding this issue, as Articles 393 and 394, which punish with life imprisonment, dealt with the sexual intercourse of a female or having sexual intercourse with a male without their consent, meaning that this legislation does not It addresses the issue of homosexuality that occurs by consent between both parties.
The amendment includes penalties of imprisonment and a fine not exceeding five million Iraqi dinars, and anyone proven to practice homosexuality shall be punished with life imprisonment or death.
For his part, the former head of the Doctors Syndicate, Jassem Al-Azzawi, apologized for commenting on the law, but he confirmed during a brief interview with “Al Aalem Al Jadeed” that “Parliament did not consult the Doctors Syndicate during the preparation of this law and other related laws.”
Regarding the course of the laws, Al-Azzawi adds, “The law is initially studied by the Health and Environment Committee in Parliament, but in the Council of Ministers there are advisors who present proposals and amendments, or the Minister of Health may be sought assistance, meaning that most of the agencies are governmental.”
The law punishes with imprisonment for a period not less than one year and not exceeding three years every doctor who performs or initiates a biological sex change operation in violation of the provisions of this law, which is the same penalty imposed on a person who seeks to change sex.
But the head of the Association for Defending Freedom of the Press, Mustafa Nasser, believes, for his part, during an interview with Al Aalem Al Jadeed, that “passing this law comes within the framework of the political conflict between the rival Shiite forces, especially between the coordination framework and the Sadrist movement, as the latter recently sought to Raising the banner of declaring Eid al-Ghadir as an official holiday, in conjunction with the formation of the so-called National Shiite Movement, in an attempt to embarrass the coordination framework that represents the Shiite spectrum in the Iraqi political process at the present time.”
He adds, “The approval of the Eid al-Ghadir holiday appears to be acceptable to the coordination framework, especially since it will seek to pass the official holidays law in Iraq, but the framework went on to legislate another law, which al-Sadr was calling for even in the first weeks of his withdrawal from the political process, which is the criminalization of homosexuality.”
Nasser points out that “the coordination framework tried to cover up the demand to declare Eid al-Ghadir an official holiday, which Al-Sadr believed would embarrass the coordination framework with the Sunni and Kurdish forces on the one hand, and with his masses of ideological Islamists on the other hand, but the coordination framework intended to pass this controversial amendment, which caused the anger of some international bodies.”
As for the social aspect of passing the law, Nasser points out that “the forces of political Islam, especially the Shiite ones, are skilled at targeting legislative articles that determine sexual relations, family provisions, and other issues that lead to the patriarchal system’s control over the vulnerable groups in society.”
He finds that “the legal articles voted on by Parliament are devoid of any solutions to the problem of the spread of homosexuality or incest in Iraqi society and its causes, part of which was announced by the competent security authorities, and most crimes of this type were attributed to the spread of some type of drug in society.”
He continues, “These forces, as usual, use loose and flexible expressions that are open to interpretation and interpretation, to give them the mood in dealing with the punitive provisions contained in the law.”
He concludes, “The text of the law did not provide health exceptions related to hormonal changes or deformities in some people. Is it reasonable to sentence a person who was born with a deformity to prison and did not commit a crime? This confirms greatly that the agreement that occurred within the forces of the coordination framework to pass this amendment It was only for political purposes, the most prominent of which was withdrawing focus from the demands of the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, regarding the Eid al-Ghadeer holiday, which greatly resonated with the Shiite public.”
The draft law initially included the death penalty for same-sex relations, but amendments were made to it before its approval after strong opposition from the United States and European countries.
The US State Department said yesterday that Iraq’s legislation to combat homosexuality would weaken the country’s ability to attract foreign investments and its economic growth, but Iraqi forces, including Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, denounced, through its Secretary-General Qais al-Khazali, the positions opposing the amendment of the “prostitution” law by the Council of Ministers. Iraqi representatives, including the position of the United States.
