Iraq Parliament drafts law to ban publications on LGBTQ concerns

"We do not need a law to criminalise homosexuality, we have the law of heaven, of religion, that rejects such fornication.” said Parliament speaker, Mohammed Halbousi.

The Iraqi Parliament recently drafted a law to ban publications regarding queer issues. This has alarmed the members of the LGBTQ+ community in the country.

The law would punish anyone who would for any reason “publish or promote” homosexuality in state’s media, institutions, schools, universities, social media platforms, books, cinemas, theatres, publications, and in public.

On December 3, 25 MPs, mostly from Shia group Coordination Framework, which opposes influential cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr, who is also Shia, signed a bill proposing the criminalisation of all publishing on LGBTQ+ topics in Iraq.

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Individual citizens could be fined one million Iraqi dinars ($685), while government agencies and companies could be fined millions more.

“We do not need a law to criminalise homosexuality, we have the law of heaven, of religion, that rejects such fornication.” said Parliament speaker, Mohammed Halbousi.

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