Over the weekend, Iraq passed a law that imposes 10 to 15 years in prison for same-sex couples. Transgenders and men impersonating women are also sentenced to prison.
of Iraq the strict gay law that came into force at the weekend arouses strong criticism in donor countries. The law prescribes substantial prison sentences for homosexuality and transgenderism.
The United States, which gives the most development aid to Iraq, says that the law threatens the most those who are already in the weakest position.
A spokesperson for the US State Department by Matthew Miller in addition, the law can be used to hinder freedom of speech and expression.
According to Miller, the law will also make it more difficult to get foreign investments.
– International business groups have already signaled that this kind of discrimination damages their business and Iraq’s economic growth, says Miller.
The British foreign minister of another major donor country David Cameron in turn called the law “dangerous and worrying”.
Also human rights organizations such as Human Right Watch have criticized the new law.
“The law was needed to protect our order of values”
The Iraqi authorities respond to the criticism by accusing Western countries of interfering in Iraq’s internal affairs.
A group of MPs is running for the US ambassador Alina Romanowski expulsion from the country on the grounds that he has criticized the law.
At the same time, Iraq justifies the law with traditional values.
– The law was needed to protect our order of values, said the speaker of the Iraqi parliament Mohsen Al-Mandalawi.
According to him, Iraqi children must be protected from “moral loss and homosexuality”.
The previous version of the law proposed even the death penalty for homosexuality.
Homosexuality has previously been a social taboo in conservative Iraq, but the law has not made it punishable before.