Iraq Criminalizes Same-Sex Relationships With Harsh Sentences

Reports reaching the desk of Africa Today News, New York has it that the parliament in Iraq has passed a bill making same-sex relations punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Transgender people will also be sentenced to three years in jail under the amendments to a 1988 anti-prostitution law.

The legislation was adopted during a session attended by 170 out of 329 lawmakers.

A previous draft had proposed capital punishment for same-sex relations.

But the new amendments allow the courts to sentence people to between 10 and 15 years in prison.

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They also set a minimum of a seven-year prison term for “promoting” same-sex relations and a sentence ranging from one to three years for men who “intentionally” act like women.

The amended law makes “biological sex change based on personal desire and inclination” a crime and punishes trans people and doctors who perform gender reassignment surgery with up to three years in prison.

In another report, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, has asserted that those who criticise his decision to allow blessings for same-sex couples would eventually come to terms with it over time, except for Africans, whom he referred to as a “special case.”

Africa Today News, New York reports that Pope Francis had in an interview with Italian newspaper, La Stampa, on Tuesday, said Africans perceived homosexuality negatively from a cultural perspective.

“Those who protest vehemently belong to small ideological groups. A special case is Africans: for them, homosexuality is something bad from a cultural point of view, and they don’t tolerate it.

“But in general, I trust that gradually everyone will be reassured by the spirit of the ‘Fiducia Supplicans’ declaration by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith: it aims to include, not divide. He invites people to welcome and then entrust people, and entrust themselves, to God.”

When asked if he was concerned about a split in the church over the development, Francis replied in the negative, saying “in the church, there were small groups that manifested reflections of schismatic colour. You have to let them go and pass… and look ahead”.

Africa Today News, New York

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