{"id":39,"area":"Asia","region_name":"Iraq","iso_2":"IQ","region_sub":null,"legal_code_title":"Penal Code of 1969 ","legal_code_title_citation_1":null,"legal_code_title_citation_2":"Article 404","legal_code_body":"Article 401 - “Any person who commits an immodest act in public is punishable by a period of detention not exceeding 6 months plus a fine not exceeding 50 dinars or by one of those penalties.” ","legal_code_body_citation_1":null,"legal_code_body_citation_2":null,"legal_code_body_citation_3":null,"legal_code_body_citation_4":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments":"After the American invasion in 2003 the Penal Code of 1969 was reinstated in Iraq. This code does not prohibit same-sex relations. 347\n\nHowever, non-State actors in Iraq including Sharia judges, continue to order executions of men and women for same-sex sexual behaviour, despite the fact that Iraq’s civil code makes no reference to same-sex sexual behaviour, does not criminalise it, and neither does the country’s (civil law) legal system defer to the Sharia court. It is also known that both police and militias have frequently kidnapped, threatened and killed LGBT people. 348 \n\nThe Daesh (or ISIS / ISIL) held areas of northern Iraq and northern Syria, are known to target men and women on account of their gender expression, gender identity and their sexual orientation. The Nusr [‘Victory’ in Arabic] website, which claims to be the website of the Islamic Caliphate, has a section on Legal Jurisprudence (evidence-based rules and the Penal Code). One of the pages under this section is dedicated to “Punishment for Sodomy”, which states: “The religiously-sanctioned penalty for sodomy is death, whether it is consensual or not. Those who are proven to have committed sodomy, whether sodomizer or sodomized, should be killed...”. \nIn 2015, the United Nation Human Rights Committee that oversees the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) issued its Concluding Observations to Iraq. These included (at paras. 11 and 12) concerns on the stigmatisation and social exclusion of people on the basis of SOGI, and their inability to publicly demonstrate peacefully. The Committee acknowledged, “... diversity of morality and cultures must [...] always be subject to the principles of universality of human rights and non-discrimination”. The State should, therefore, “vigorously” combat stereotypes, ensure enjoyment of Covenant rights to all, investigate, prosecute perpetrators and compensate victims, collect data on SOGI-related crime, and create anti-discrimination legislation that lists SOGI as a ground for protection”. \nEarlier in 2015, the United Nations Committee Against Torture - in relation to reliable reports before it – at para. 25 expressed concern that these attacks occur regularly and with impunity, at times leading to death. As such, Iraq should “take effective measures to prevent violence based on real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity and ensure that all acts of violence are investigated and prosecuted promptly, effectively and impartially, perpetrators brought to justice and victims provided redress”. \n\n","legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_1":"347 Text of the law is available at: www.refworld.org/docid/452524304.html.","legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_2":"348 In November 2014, the International Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Commission (ILGHRC) launched two important reports on the situations of LGBT people in Iraq, “When Coming Out Is A Death Sentence” and “We’re Here: Iraqi LGBT People’s Accounts of Violence and Rights Abuses”, both of which are available at: http://iglhrc.org/content/exposing-persection-lgbt-individuals-iraq","legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_3":"349 See: http://nusr.net/1/index.php/ar/nthm/nthm-oqoobat/319-nthm-oqoobat-6; and ILGHRC timeline on killings in the region, at: http://iglhrc.org/dontturnaway/timeline.","legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_4":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_5":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_6":null,"legal_code_scruff_comments":null,"prison_term_min_length":null,"prison_term_max_length":6.0,"prison_term_notes":null,"prison_term_not_specified":null,"prison_term_years":null,"prison_term_life":null,"prison_term_mandatory":null,"fine_min_amount":0,"fine_max_amount":null,"fine_currency":null,"fine_notes":null,"fine_not_specified":null,"fine_amount":null,"fine_mandatory":null,"penalty_death":null,"penalty_death_notes":null,"penalty_corporal_punishment":null,"penalty_corporal_punishment_notes":null,"penalty_hard_labor":null,"penalty_hard_labor_notes":null,"penalty_banishment":null,"legal_code_explicitly_references_same_sex_acts":null,"legal_code_explicitly_references_acts_against_nature":null,"legal_code_differentiates_anal_sex_from_other_acts":null,"legal_code_indicates_hiv_as_aggravating_factor":null,"legal_code_indicates_age_of_consent_homosexual_acts_over_18":null,"existing_laws_used_to_target_gays_but_not_anti_gay":null,"islamic_sharia_law":true,"islamic_sharia_law_notes":null,"laws_subregional_variance_or_contradiction":null,"laws_subregional_variance_or_contradiction_notes":null,"laws_not_specifically_homophobic":null,"laws_status_unclear":null,"laws_status_unclear_notes":null,"persecution_non_state_agents":true,"criminalization_under_consideration":null,"recently_decriminalized":null,"propaganda_law_under_consideration":null,"propaganda_law_title":null,"propaganda_law_title_citation_1":null,"propaganda_law_body":null,"propaganda_law_body_citation_1":null,"propaganda_law_ilga_comments":null}