Gay Travel Advisory

Gaza

Criminalization Code Ordinance, Section 152(2)

Sources
  1. The British Mandate Criminal Code, Ordinance No. 74 from 1936

Legal Code Text

Section 152(2) - “Any person who: (a) has carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature; or [...] (c) permits a male person to have carnal knowledge of him or her against the order of nature, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for ten years.”

ILGA Analysis & Notes

This Code was in force also in Jordan until 1951 and in Israel until 1977, before they adopted their own Penal Codes. Note that in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) the Jordanian Penal Code of 1951 (modified in 1960) is in force, having no prohibition on sexual acts between persons of the same sex. Since the 2007 governance of Gaza by Hamas, the Gazan legislative body has attempted to amend or replace the British Mandatory Penal Code. The proposal from 2013 purported to be “Islamic based”, and included flogging for adultery and cutting off an offender’s right hand for theft. While a complete draft of the proposal was never published, it is highly likely its treatment of same-sex acts would have been far more severe than even the current law. The code failed to pass the Gazan legislature.

Sources
  1. Human Rights and Legal Position of Palestinian “Collaborators”. Supreme Court of Israel. Schmitt, Arno and Sofer, Jehoeda, Sexuality and Eroticism Among Males in Moslem Societies (Binghamton: Harrington Park Press, 1992) at 137-138.